Strange Aeons, with GM Pendrak

Game Master karlprosek

Init: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

Thraag sees the giant ooze and decides that this is a problem. Through his shaken state he calls upon his inner powers and sends a bolt of fire at the black blob.

Cast Energy Bolt (Fire). I start at my NE corer and then send a line through the blob, missing all my allies. I spend 7 points and Overcharge for 10 total.

Energy Bolt (Fire): DC 20 Reflex (Half): 10d6 + 10 ⇒ (5, 5, 1, 3, 6, 2, 3, 5, 6, 4) + 10 = 50

15% or less is bad: 1d100 ⇒ 7

Thraag becomes Dazzled for 7 rounds and loses 7 more PPs. This puts me down to 40 PP remaining.

Init: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19

”Good heavens!“ Mouth agape, Grimes stumbles backwards, moving away from the strange form rising from the tub.

”Quite right, Hannah dear. Running sounds like great plan.“
And she doesn’t have to ask twice. Grimes is already speeding his pace and fleeing the room.

withdraw action

You might wanna check that. I think Oozes might have an exemption there.

I don't see Compression in the monster's stat block so I'm going to say it can't get through the door. Well, actually you know what, I'll just ask the group. Let's take a vote- fight or no fight?

This thing is faster than anyone in your group, has a climb speed, and has a whole boat load of hp along with DR, SR, and fast healing. Do you want it to chase you all around the caravanserai? Because I can let it get through the door if you guys want the encounter to go that way. The dream world is malleable, I could see that happening.

My vote is no fight, but then I'm also the squishy magic person, so. I'll go along with the group, of course.

I am good either way.

Oozes are icky. So no fight

Can't really do much against that ooze, so no fight

Happy to avoid stepping into the ick. Though if I remember right (which I may not, given that I appear to have been wrong about the compression thing), this particular kind of ooze isn't actually mindless, so Reine *could* very well send it running in fear. But that would just mean it comes after us again later, all angry at being embarrassed... Yeah, I say no fight.

Fleeing eastward, the party found another long hallway. This one, though, was collapsed at the north end, the roof and walls fallen in long ago. The door at the south end of the hall stood ajar, wedged open by a ledger that tumbled to the ground from within the room.

Looking through the doorway, the office beyond contained a low table and several dozen ledgers on shelves lining the walls.

A steep staircase on the southern wall ascended up to the second floor.

Map updated.

Thraag will enter and begin looking at the ledgers to see if they are labeled.

Thraag found the writing, both on the spines and on the page, to be utterly indecipherable.

Heading up the stairs, the group found a tidy office with sparse but tasteful decorations. Framed paintings of landscapes hang on the walls, including a many-spired city with marble walls and brass gates; a windswept waste beneath a distant, ominous mountain; and a gloomy port city constructed primarily of basalt.

While the decorations were nice, of more immediate interest was the man sitting behind the desk in tattered yellow robes bent over one of the ledgers from the office below.

Linguistics: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21

"Yeah...this looks like it was done by a child." Thraag says and then shakes his head and moves on.

To Reine, the ledgers would likely have been illegible regardless. She didn't really understand the intricacies of that magic called "keeping books."

So she simply headed up the stairs with the others.

...Where she saw he man in yellow robes. Her expression went icy.

"Stand up, slowly," She said to the man, her voice sharp as a knife. "Keep your hands where we can see them, and tell us why we shouldn't end you out of hand."

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (6) + 11 = 17 Anything important about the guy jump out at her?

The man behind the desk looks up suddenly at Reine's threat. He stands up slowly as bidden, hands raised, looking confused. "I apologize but have we met before? No, we must have or you would not have addressed me so. I see. It must have not ended well, I surmise." To everyone's surprise (well, Reine and Grimes at least because I think they're the only ones left with a connection to Lowls?) the man's face was familiar. It was Hasertown Lowls himself!

"Fortuitously, I have no memory of you or why I should be in any way disagreeable so I would be quite happy to assist you in any way I can. What is it you are searching for in this remote desert outpost?"

Linguistics: 1d20 + 9 + 2 + 1d6 ⇒ (17) + 9 + 2 + (1) = 29

"Yeah...this looks like it was done by a child."

"It certainly looks like that. But no... There is logic in that apparent madness. The bookkeeper knew what he was trying to write." Grimes points at the scribbles on the ledger. "But all the letters and numbers are twisted, as is the hand that wrote them was cursed." Is there a way to understand anything from the book?

--

In the office, the inspector first notices the paintings. And he was about to call out the one portraying the many-spired city of Celephais, when he hears Reine's voice getting colder.

He turns to look, and his eyes go wide. "By the God! Count Lowls!" Hastily, he reaches for his gun. Once he finally has it pointed at the sought-after criminal, he deepens his voice: "Count Hasertown Lowls! I am placing you under arrest on suspicion of larceny, incitement to assault and murder, and trafficking of stolen property!"

Hannah was surprised by the reactions of her friends. "This doesn't feel right," she said, mainly to herself. It was... too easy. Count Lowls was right here, in the ruined caravanserai, the whole time? She shook her head, and tried to see if there was something else going on. "Remember, we are dreaming..."

Will saving throw vs illusion: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (11) + 15 = 26

Thraag has no clue if this is who they are pursuing, so he looks around expecting something strange to happen.

Perception: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (9) + 17 = 26

He turns to look, and his eyes go wide. "By the God! Count Lowls!" Hastily, he reaches for his gun. Once he finally has it pointed at the sought-after criminal, he deepens his voice: "Count Hasertown Lowls! I am placing you under arrest on suspicion of larceny, incitement to assault and murder, and trafficking of stolen property!"

Instead of raising his hands the man scowled at Grimes, though he did back away from the desk. "Under arrest? Me? By what authority!? Are you a Royal Accuser? I demand you produce a writ from the Prince or put that weapon away!"

Hannah was surprised by the reactions of her friends. "This doesn't feel right," she said, mainly to herself. It was... too easy. Count Lowls was right here, in the ruined caravanserai, the whole time? She shook her head, and tried to see if there was something else going on. "Remember, we are dreaming..."

The Count and the office didn't disappear but Hannah could have sworn everything wavered for the briefest second when she reminded herself and everyone else that they were in a dream. Perhaps mentioning it risked waking up. Or turning it into something worse, like the shopkeeper or the thing in the baths.

"He's a noble," Reine said to Grimes, "they don't do 'under arrest.' They send people to arrest other people." She smiled, and it was sharp enough to cut silk.

"That's OK though, Milord, we don't need to be bothered by legal niceties, do we? Why would we, if one can simply make people disappear?"

She did not move. She did not threaten. Her voice was music itself. And yet, any being with a modicum of intelligence or self-preservation could understand the danger she represented.

"Why would you not remember me?"

The Count turned his scowl on Reine, who was far and away a better scowl-er than this man could ever hope to be. He half dropped his hands as he refocused his attention away from the constable. "Well, if you must. I am a shard of the Count's demiconsciousness. I have... most of the memories of the man you want," he glanced at Grimes, "to 'arrest' but I am an independent entity. And while I recognize that I should know you, I do not possess the specific memories in which you reside in the Count's mind."

"But you are his helper, yes?" Count Lowls's dream duplicate looked back at Reine. "You work for the Count?" He gestured vaguely at his own head. "I have impressions that you are a loyal servant, one who can be trusted with complex, independent tasks."

Hannah frowned. She wasn't surprised that this wasn't Lowls himself, but an... echo, for lack of a better term. "Do you know where he is? We heard he was entering the Dreamlands for... something. Or do you know how to reach him?" She wasn't very confident the echo would be able to help them, but it was worth asking... right?

"I-" Reine had been about to answer the dreamshard being, when Hannah spoke up. So Reine waited a beat for the priestess to finish her questions. Then she chimed in.

"He has definitely sent me off on at least one journey he didn't expect to need to supervise," Reine said, "and now I'm back. I'm good at what I do, and finding the count is what needs doing right now. I suspect - no, I know he is in mortal danger."

Every word of that was true. The fact that Reine, herself, was intending to be the source of that mortal danger didn't make the statement any less factual.

"So as the lady said, can you help us?"

"A shard of demiconsciousness..?" There is a bit of disappointment in Grimes voice. Is a shard of demiconsciousness responsible of the crimes of the original? A rather complicated case of law and justice. Nevertheless, the detective lowers his gun.

"How, and why, did that happen? This sharding of consciousness... And if you have the memories of the man, perhaps you could enlighten us what he wanted with Reine and her companions."

And the others had already voiced the most important question: Where to find the real Count?

The Lowls-in-yellow nodded. “I have no current knowledge of the Count's activities. You see, I was deconstructed from a greater whole, but that process can be reversed with you." He gestured at Reine. "You are likewise deconstructed, I posit, and seek to be RE-constructed in the inverse of my experience. In short, you can retrace Lowls’s steps to regain your memories and your whole self."

"Now, I cannot recall all of those steps — that was ‘after my time,’ so to speak, but I know the outcome: Lowls spoke with an ominous yet perspicacious prophet called the Mad Poet. This Mad Poet — an apt appellation, I assure you — has unimaginable power here in the Dreamlands, but he is fickle. Approaching the Mad Poet without the proper collection of gifts provokes his ire; worse, he might have nothing to do with you. Lowls learned some great truths from the Mad Poet; some truths so mind-shattering that I came into being as a result." He frowned and shifted uncomfortably. "I, ah, deem it serendipitous that I do not know what these truths are."

"If you do seek out the Mad Poet, appropriate gifts for the Mad Poet are scattered throughout the Dreamlands. They are rare, esoteric, and never easily gained. Lowls identified six or seven of these gifts. I can recall writing them down on the flyleaf of Dichotomous Translations of Aklo Syntax, but cannot recall what they were." Lachen, having helped the professors back on the Sellen Starling study the Count's tomes, recognizes the name of one of the books in the stacks of esoteric manuscripts.

"Lowls painstakingly scoured his tomes to research each gift, learning where to find it in the Dreamlands and then dreaming of that location. I recommend you do likewise."

"Some of the gifts required trickery or guile to obtain; others, delicate negotiation or brute force. I do not know the minimum number of gifts the Mad Poet will accept, but Lowls acquired all the gifts on his list. If you want to make do with fewer gifts, or if you have some problem acquiring them all, the Mad Poet might condescend to converse with you anyway. That’s up to you."

"Once you acquire sufficient gifts, return here. I will escort you to the Mad Poet’s oasis, and you can petition him for the answers you seek."

The princess is in another castle!

Basically, you can find the list of unusual gifts in one of the books in the real world. Here's the list. Each listed item requires research in the books and then a dream quest like this caravanserai trip.

“... but that process can be reversed with you... you can retrace Lowls’s steps to regain your memories and your whole self.'"

Outwardly, Reine made no motion, spoke no sound. Internally, she was rocked to her core.

"Regain your memories."

Did she even really want them any more?

"Your whole self."

What had been lost, with those memories? Who - what - had she been before? Would regaining that change who she was now?

What if she liked who she was now?

What if she didn't?

In any case, she had to know, didn't she?

And, the rage within her insisted, Lowls had to pay for what he had done to her. For putting her through this. For... "deconstructing" her - and the others - like this.

If going through the potential pain of "re-construction" was the cost to make that happen, well, she would just have to pay it, wouldn't she?

"We'll do it."

Reine's voice was harsh. A far cry from the liquid music it normally was, as though someone had dragged a sawblade across strings drawn so tight they'd have snapped at a feather's touch.

"We'll get your damned gifts, and we'll go see this madman of yours. We'll do it."

This man is giving me quite the headache.. It's Lowl but without being the real Lowl, we thought we were here to kill him and now he send us on a quest for books and stuff to a Mad Poet... Dreamlands can be quite a nightmare. I should have gone drunk instead.

Lachen massages his brow

"Follow the footsteps of a madman, and you just might go mad," Hannah furrowed her brow, but she nodded to Reine. She, also, wasn't sure if she wanted to "become whole" again. Sarenrae had gifted her with wonderful powers. Would she lose them?

"Lord Byron?" Grimes' blurts out the first poet of the mad disposition that comes to his mind. But Lowls shard clearly put capital M and P to the mad poet, so the poet in question must be very mad indeed.

"Does the Mad Poet have a name, perchance? Who knows I'd come across him. London's socialites are full of eccentric fellows, many of them self-claimed poets."

Then, turning to the others. "Sounds like we must put the Dreamwalking into a hiatus for a while, and get started with some books. Do you happen to know this Dichotomous Translations of Aklo Syntax he speaks of?"

It might sounds kind of odd, but your shadow may have bless on it for +1 to hit if it can be affected by moral bonuses.

Whoops, you're right! XD Thanks!

I have family in the hospital - please bot me if necessary.

I was going to have you all level after finishing the fort but that fight was so drawn out I think you've earned it now. Level up to 5th at your convenience!

Favored enemy undead.

Were we short on knowledge skills? I was considering picking up a sage familiar. Would there be value in this?

:O !!! I wish there was an eidolon template like that! XD

I don't think we're heavy on knowledge skills atm, for what it's worth.

Of the monster-identifying ones you've got Arcana (Des), Dungeoneering (Broom, John), Local (John), Planes (Des), and Religion (Des). Nobody is a Knowledge-focused PC, though, so most of you have bonuses in the 5-9 range, which isn't nothing but isn't maxed out.

I will post my level up today or tomorrow.

I was just reminded that infernal healing is an arcane spell, I didn't have to make any of those UMD checks. Doh!

Knowledge is likely to get worse as we go on as well.

None of us will be piling ranks into it.

I'll pick up knowledge religion if I go favored enemy undead. That way I can use the bonus.

I had planned on picking up favored enemy aberration, but things have nearly been non-stop undead so far. If he's learned to fight anything, it is likely undead.

Level up: Hp +13 (4 class, 5 con, 1 toughness, 3 familiar)

Spell slot +1 lv1, +1 lv2.
Spells Grease, Elemental touch, See invisibility

Skills Heal, Kn(dungeon), UMD, Prof(cook), Craft(alchemy)

Feat, aberrant tumor
Toad familiar (sage archetype).
Skills Kn(arcana), Kn(nature), Kn(Planes), Kn(History), Kn(Engineering),
Kn(Geography)

I won't have the familiar yet, that will come next time we rest.

Important stuff:

Favored enemy undead
Added a couple of new knowledge skills
Feat: Shield gauntlet attack
second 1st level spell - resist energy

Hey folks. Sorry for disappearing. Some of you know from other games, but I completely forgot to leave notice on the Paizo boards.

We had some fairly significant family medical issues, including a rather traumatic and unexpected death. There were some other things as well, but with the holidays on top of it all, I think I'll have managed to get my feet under me by the new year. This week is scheduled to be pretty chill after tomorrow, so I expect to be able to use some of the time to get caught up (the rest of it will be recovery).

Again, my apologies for ghosting without real warning.

I'll get Reine leveled up also.

Level-Up Info:

No new skills, but better at them. Boosted Acrobatics for getting into/out of melee.

New Power: Sidestep (can cause one melee attack to miss as an Immediate Action for 3pp)

WAY more Power Points (I'd been playing it wrong. Her bonus PP for Charisma increases every level - I'd just been giving her +4)

Bonus Feat: Open Door (once she mindlocks someone she can always re-connect to them by spending a PP)

Aura of Fear is now 15' radius (she's scary from further away now)

She's basically becoming a fear-based psychic Magus. Still kinda glass-canon though, as she only has 28 hp.

Then again, our Sorceror has WAY more hp than any of us, so we're a weird party. :-)

We do need to get her a Finessable melee weapon for use against these undead though...

EDIT: I totally missed the 5th-level Feat (she gets a bonus Feat as a Dread, so missed the "normal" one)! She'll be taking "Deadly Agility," which lets her add her Dex bonus to damage on Finessable weapons. That will help even her claws be somewhat useful. Yay!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

I am going to swap out elemental touch for adhesive blood for my level up.

I hope you all had a good holiday! Happy new year!

Broom is pretty good for spells, especially since she just got a couple of more slots from the level up.

I think it took two more taps from the evil wand to bring John up to full so I will deduct the charges.

Also, just thought I'd point out that D8 has not only two doors (and a hearth) as potential entry points, but also the stairs...

Maybe we go see if we can discover a bedroom or some other place more defensible?

Des, how messed up is Shadow? If it's actually at 4hp, and resting would help with that, then that might be a good reason to rest... But do eidolons heal?

it is indeed low on hps, and I dont think eidolons heal on their own. des has used up all her spells, so she cant heal it. maybe broom could?

typing is very slow rn due to stupid shoulder, please bot me if necessary.

OK, looks like the consensus is to keep exploring. Which room next? Look at D10? Check the still-covered parts of the first floor? Go upstairs?

Interesting, I never knew that eidelon's don't heal. It almost makes the heal eidelon spells a mandatory pick for summoners. On the other hand, there is the ability to sacrifice the summoner's own hp to stop an eidelon from being banished by damage.

Broom wouldn't offer to heal the shadow monster though unless specifically asked to by Des.

On the other hand, if the shadow is banished Des still has 4 or 5 summon monster III spells available that each last for 1 min per level

Interesting, I never knew that eidelon's don't heal. It almost makes the heal eidelon spells a mandatory pick for summoners. On the other hand, there is the ability to sacrifice the summoner's own hp to stop an eidelon from being banished by damage.

Broom wouldn't offer to heal the shadow monster though unless specifically asked to by Des.

On the other hand, if the shadow is banished Des still has 4 or 5 summon monster III spells available that each last for 1 min per level

Des is a Paracosmist - they give up the summons in order to focus on their eidolon. It's a 3pp Archetype that I don't have all the stats on, but suffice it to say, Des can't summon anything to replace Shadow.

The DM actually waived that restriction (and the one about her two archetypes overlapping), but it doesn't matter at the moment, as Des has used all her spells for the day.

Was the loot list updates? I was just in there doing some book keeping. WE haven't taken the equipment loot yet so I can understand not putting that in yet, but we did take the loose change and at least one bow I believe.

Map updated. First floor is still "Combat map" while second floor is "Fort Hailcourse Continued".

In my last post I meant acid arrow, not acid splash

Sorry for vanishing, everyone! My computer problems are dealt with.

Not to be the bearer of bad tidings, but... Des has already used all her spells for the day, other than cantrips. D: But if we get hero points she can use one to cast Enlarge on the shadow.

I'm gonna say if the DM's botting your character and casts a spell, you've got that spell slot available. :)

Hahaha, no arguments! :D

Has John gone missing?

Has John gone missing?

I had been about to ask the same question.

I'll send him a message and see if he's around.

Technically, that should have been "Welcome to Ouchtown..." but I hadto clean it up a bit to fit Reine's vocabulary. ;-)

Does anybody know somebody who might want to play a front liner for you guys? It doesn't look like John is coming back- he hasn't responded to my message and isn't posting in other games he's playing in (not just mine).

Uh-oh.

That's sad. I hope all is well with him.

I'm not nearly as connected on the boards as I am PbEM. All the Board games I play in are run by you, so no new connections there.

I could go see if anyone in any of my old PbP games is still active, I suppose.

Also: What the hell is that red-devil-dog thing where the Skum used to be?

Aw, man. Maybe Balarava's player, or Cyrus' player? Otherwise, no idea, sorry.

But please tell me the skum wasn't reincarnated as a red-devil-dog thing. XD

I think that is just a red tinted fishman.

Do we know that these zombies are actually mindless? They have been described as being pretty skilled and acting like trained soldiers. Though as undead I don't know if them having a mind would actually change anything.

Its too bad about John, I liked the 'normal guy' vibe that he brought to the group.

We might want to open up a general call for a replacement.

These zombies are a problem for Broom as well, they are immune to electricity which is her big attack.

Yeah, sorry, I just tinted the two downed skum red to indicate they're down. Maybe I should tint them grey instead.

I will now plan to have two-stage enemies at some point, though. :)

To your point, Broom, while the juju zombies are intelligent they still have the undead trait of being immune to mind-affecting spells and abilities (along with a host of other stuff).

John's player is still on the boards but he's only posting to the game he DMs. Which, tbh, is very responsible of him and I respect that but it doesn't help us much.

Sorry for disappearing.

Things are back under control (I think) and I'll keep caught up.

Sorry for disappearing.

Things are back under control (I think) and I'll keep caught up.

YAY!!! Welcome back!

Glad you're alive.

As someone who has done the "disappearing without a trace" on these boards, every now and again (but always coming back), I'm not gonna throw stones. I do hope all is well with you.

It still wouldn't necessarily be a terrible thing to pull another meat-shield though, Karl.

Yay! Glad you're good and back, John!

Someone in one of my other games has expressed interest, we'll see if they pan out.

A divine type might be good. While Broom is absolutely happy doing what she can to heal people, it is a little thin in combat.

Any of the priest/warpriest/pally or even druid (pet) could tank on the frontline while provided varying degrees of healing.

Though there is something to be said for just being able to smash the enemy down faster so that healing isn't needed in the first place, and it would give broom someone to cast enlarge person on.

Hey, and welcome back John!

YAY! Welcome back, John!

And Des is always in favor of shields (meat or otherwise) between her and death, haha.

Hi, I'm a player in another campaign (Curse of the Crimson throne), and the GM said you might need a fighter here

If the offer still stands, I can join with this rewrited character.

I would need to know the sum GP to buy equipment, and of course read at least part of the adventure before joining

I'm rarely a fan of CN PCs, as they so often turn into Leeroy Jenkins, but I do like the character concept, and he'd probably fit in as either one of the mercenaries who didn't get paid, or some other out-of-work basher in a uniform who has a reason to be in town. There's definitely more than the "fair share" of people with ugly pasts in this place.

Or, maybe he woke up in the asylum right after we dropped the Tatterman... who knows?

But yeah, another anvil to pair up with John wouldn't go amiss.