What drew Garidan to Calledrym in the first place? Why does he worship the King of the Gods?
On a related, but different note, I won't tease you about the transactional nature of your faith since the bias against such is a product of monotheism. Transactional Faith where you perform X rite correctly to receive Y reward is a classic model of polytheism.
However, from reading what Créatus said, it seems like you were not performing the rites correctly. Calledrym is King of the Gods, and in his own mind the ruler of the universe, from that perspective, given your social position, you are not a client lord but a peasant or perhaps a craftsmen. Try what Créatus suggested. Vocally dedicate your victories to Calledyrm. That would be like the feudal peasant delivering his produce. Maybe offer up one of your essences to your god (like a craftsman delivering the work of his hands), he might bless something with his power in return. If you want what Calledyrm got, give him what he values: recognition of his primacy, the notional harvest of your deeds, and the power from your enemies.
From the transactional model, it seems a little silly to be angry with Calledrym when you aren't transacting. (Which seems to me to be what you want.)
However, if you are uninterested in the vassal-patron/lord model (which makes me ask my first two questions again), then I would suggest you look into one of these three goddesses:
1. Dasyra, the Shining Star: She seems like she is into doing good because it is good. That might appeal.
2. Valthyra, the Faithful: The smith goddess values making things stronger. Garidan is something of a smith. She also values the bonds of family which also seem important to Garidan.
3. Faelynn, the Merchant: If you want a purely transactional faith, I'm sure you could bargain with her. I do X, you do Y.
In any event, unless a god is actively wooing you (like Mylesar and Truk), you need to be vocally supporting them and praying to them (since that produces the energy they need to intervene). Even Truk didn't get obvious intervention until he blessed the troops. Truk likely would have gotten attention and aid earlier or more impressively if he dedicated the battle and the kills to Myselar. An important point here is that the gods need the energy produced by your faith to help you out unless they are willing to spend their reserves. (Since unbeknownst to us the Magi have prevented most of them from accessing the primal planes and the ether directly.) Calledyrm has no incentive to help you yet since you aren't modeling the relationship that gives him power to do so. Maybe Garidan doesn't want to play the feudal peasant, but if he wants divine backing then he needs to be modeling behavior that at least one of great spirits can "feed" upon.
Well, the first thing to note is that I initially picked Calledrym when he was still Calwein, and Calwein was just a bit different in aspect before Valjoen did his rework. In his current, altered incarnation, Garidan looks to him in his oversight of travel and protection, both of interest to wandering probers of things that might object to both wandering and probing, as his parents were, and which he and his sister were going to be themselves. And these days, those aspects take on--in Garidan's mind, at least--greater importance still.
And to be fair, the Ealintaine *do* operate on a pretty blatant transactional model with regards to their worshippers, and you pointed that out yourself just now :D. Garidan's complaint wasn't that Calledrym didn't deliver aid on request, but that he didn't present his terms in an unambiguous manner. (And since it was Calwein when that "prove your worth to me" response was given, that meant something a bit different at the time besides. Among other things, sacrificing essences wasn't a consideration at all.)
Créatus cleared that up, however, and so Garidan's mind is now settled on that point. Making things dead (or deader :p) in the Whispering Wind's name is certainly doable; it'll be fun though to go all bombastic in fights when Garidan is so obviously introverted :D. Don't know about sacrificing essences though, Garidan's probably just as hooked on those as Niyut is by now, if not in the same way :p. (Kind of wonder now if Créatus was throwing out a hint when he mentioned that bit about sacrificing them.)
Also, Garidan is--though he doesn't realize it and I didn't either until I had to think about it now--a believer in the concept of reciprocal loyalty; that is, obligation and duty flows up to those in authority (as is proper), but also back down again to those following. That's not to say that Garidan would expect each and every request to be answered, or that he'd get back a return equal to what he put in, far from it. But rather, once a proper relationship has been established and the terms fulfilled on Garidan's end--such as by doing as Créatus advised--that Calledrym be consistent in the dispensation of his aid. And if aid isn't forthcoming, at least offer a reason why not.
The thing is, from what I have to go by at this point, I don't think that Calledrym would agree that reciprocal loyalty is anything that he needs to observe in regards to his followers, never mind that he holds himself up as both sovereign of the Ealintaine and the patron of rulers. And while Garidan doesn't have any problems with being a follower, a patron who expects much (or more) and gives out little in return smacks too much of the sort of rulers that claimed dominion over his home, expected in full all of the dues that subjects were to render up, but provided f~+!-all in the way of support back down the chain.
It's true to point out that Calwein was LG, while Calledyrm is LN. However, in game our characters are unaware of that change. To them the way things are is the way that they have always been. Given, that why would Garidan have chosen him?
As for the ambiguity of "proving yourself," it's only ambiguous to us who didn't know the theology. Créatus' explanation makes sense and would have been a reasonable explanation of Calledrym's words.
As far as I can tell, Calledrym isn't about wandering and probing. He is about expansive oversight and guarding what belongs to him. If you are about wandering and probing that sounds more like Faelynn, who is the Protector of Travelers. If you are looking for a god of adventurers, I don't think he fits the bill.
I actually disagree that we know Calledyrm doesn't believe in reciprocal loyalty as that defines his relation with Mylesar. Be a useful vassal and receive the protection and guidance of your lord. Créatus seemed clear that you must approach Calledrym in the right way.
Has Garidan ever prayed to him but to ask him for help? That the Whispering Wind sent you a memo at all seems to be a good sign that he is open to it. Is it his fault you didn't understand the revelation? Being precious about his wording isn't super respectful to the god. (To be clear: Niyut is very into Garidan growing a spine vis-a-vis authority. This advice is all oog.)
Also, I wasn't saying that you should give up an essence for nothing, though if you had sacrificed an essence on his altar I would have been surprised if he didn't bless you or your sword in a similar way to how Teysura blessed us in the crypt.
As far as I can tell, the gods want to help us, but to receive their help we must engage with them in the right idiom. Niyut is not into that, but if Garidan wants divine aid and is frustrated by its lack, Créatus gave him several pieces of potentially useful advise.
As for being bombastic, Garidan demoralizes people all the time. If I were you, I would work the King of the Gods into that effort and then quietly dedicate your kills to him later as part of "defending his divine kingdom from the slaves of the Brothers."
Your mileage may vary, but I was impressed with how much world building and spiritual advice the GM worked into that exchange.
Though one bit of wisdom should always be mentioned, if these gods are anything like the greek gods, then the "gods favor whom they favor." All the sacrifices in the world won't be enough to rouse a god who doesn't like you. Unlike say the Loa, the greek gods didn't seem to have any sense of being obliged by sacrifice. They might demand it. They may punish those who don't. Yet, it is not sufficient to always gain their regard. Whereas if you bring the rum and the right sacrifice, the Loa have a bit more professional pride.
LG and LN are pretty different, however, in how they influence a deity's creed, and how worshippers respond to that creed as well. And LG Calwein was a bit different in outlook when I selected him at the campaign's start. Further, the theology behind Calwein/Calledrym wasn't quite as fleshed out then, and I had only had a barebones outline given by Valjoen--after I provided him some idea of what Garidan was about--to go by. We didn't get the wiki and Valjoen's hefty injections of lore until a good bit into the campaign.
Calledrym has Travel and Protection as domains, with no particular caveats attached to them. So no, wandering for its own sake, or as a common traveler either, is probably not his purview. But going somewhere dangerous, or with a route that's particularly hazardous? I can see him owning that.
LG and LN are pretty different, however, in how they influence a deity's creed, and how worshippers respond to that creed as well. And LG Calwein was a bit different in outlook when I selected him at the campaign's start. Further, the theology behind Calwein/Calledrym wasn't quite as fleshed out then, and I had only had a barebones outline given by Valjoen--after I provided him some idea of what Garidan was about--to go by. We didn't get the wiki and Valjoen's hefty injections of lore until a good bit into the campaign.
Calledrym has Travel and Protection as domains, with no particular caveats attached to them. So no, wandering for its own sake, or as a common traveler either, is probably not his purview. But going somewhere dangerous, or with a route that's particularly hazardous? I can see him owning that.
I'm not arguing that they aren't very different or that you might have made different choices with more information. I'm just say that in the world as it is now that has to make sense with past choices it might be helpful on a character level to think through why Garidan would have chosen to worship Calledrym back in the day.
I think the GM could be helpful to clarify what the Travel Purview means for Calledrym, but given what I know about the cosmology my intuition is that it refers to the scope of his power. The Dominant Quality of his Primal Plane is Expansive there is no place that his rule cannot reach. Again, my intuition is that he is not a god of brave adventurers but rulers looking out over all they survey. There are gods in the Pantheon who are closer to the adventurer/wanderer/travel thing. I'm not suggesting out of game that Garidan's faith is wrong for him, I'm just pointing out that you have options that maybe a better fit for the concept you are thinking of.
@GM: Can you chime in here and give us a sense what Travel means to the Whispering Wind?
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Calledrym has always been represented by a giant eagle. He would travel about the Material Plane surveying and defending his holdings which are expansive just as is the Plane of Air. His travel domain isn't for pleasure of folly, for sure. Even travel for the experience would be outside of his purvey. So, although certainly Travel wouldn't be restricted or forbidden under some circumstances, his need and use of Travel is for a particular purpose... to conquer and rule.
However, keep in mind that organized religion, in this case the Temple of the Tempest Eternal, is one culture's interpretation of their gods' tenets. Calledrym isn't nearly as authoritative and imperious as the Kingdom of Haemil portrays him. They have just latched on to that aspect of Calledrym and emphasized it to the extreme.
@Garidan - In Gruskorb's absense, any direction you can provide regarding the scavenging would get us moving faster. I don't want to make the determination of the duration that the two of you are gone from the rest of the group. I'd prefer to have you make that decision. Thx.
Well, we don't want to be all night--or whatever time it currently is, lol--with this, so more than a few hours is too much time. I'll make a check to round up some useful information, and the amount of time that the check takes will be the maximum amount of time we spend on scavenging (or robbing) the locations that the Diplomacy Check reveals. Will that be sufficient direction to start from?
The details on Calledrym are interesting. Could be that Garidan (and his parents) studied a less authoritarian version of his teachings that appealed to them then.
I'll admit that I haven't been as fervent a lore junkie as Niyut (who damned near seems to feed on every nugget she pries out of the game :p), so I haven't been quite as involved as I perhaps should have been. Though in fairness, I didn't really see much opportunity or time within the campaign for that as it applied to Garidan's character. This has really been the first segment of downtime where Garidan can interact with folks outside the party on a subject that affects primarily him. Everything else has been related in some manner to their task, or to Niyut's pursuit of "MOAR POWAH" :P.
That works, Garidan.
Niyut, I wasn't meaning to push Quonos on you. You asked and Rhykal threw out Abjuration or Evocation. Quonos is the evocation. But you could go after any that you'd prefer. The only one that she can't help with is Illusion (Hildebrandt) as she has no idea where the Hazard is.
Quonos is fine. We have been following the Hazards' lead on who they want next.
This has really been the first segment of downtime where Garidan can interact with folks outside the party on a subject that affects primarily him. Everything else has been related in some manner to their task, or to Niyut's pursuit of "MOAR POWAH" :P.
I take exception to this. Niyut is a multifaceted person. Don't make me eat you. ;-)
In all seriousness, in my experience, the GM is very interested in helping develop your character and pursue their goals. But, it helps to actively pursue these ends. Sometimes people think that player engagement is all on the GMs side, but I think that is a limiting and self-defeating approach.
We never ran into Leeza?
We never ran into Leeza?
True. You haven't seen her, although no one has gone looking for her or inquired.
We did when we left Foramdar.He said she went scouting but he would send her our way when she returned. "When the oracle turns and looks out towards the battlefield, he steps next to her. The calvary should return soon. I believe your friend, the female elf, is with them. They left in pursuit of the gnolls. Upon her return, I shall send her to the Hazard’s tower, if that is where you are heading."
We did when we left Foramdar.He said she went scouting but he would send her our way when she returned. "When the oracle turns and looks out towards the battlefield, he steps next to her. The calvary should return soon. I believe your friend, the female elf, is with them. They left in pursuit of the gnolls. Upon her return, I shall send her to the Hazard’s tower, if that is where you are heading."
Correct, I meant since your departure from the gates and Foramdar, no one, in character, has inquired about her failure to appear... although its only been a couple of hours at most.
Ah, got it! Thanks!
Today is my wife’s birthday, so I won’t have a long post for you. However a couple quick questions:
Niyut - how much time are you willing to study the new text this evening?
Garidan - I would like you to select the other mundane gear that you find now, up to 1000 gold pieces in value. From there, you can determine the weight.
Truk - Yes, the group saw several of wizards loading chests onto a wagon as you approached the tower earlier. You recognize a couple of these wizards from then, including the young man. Note that the chests are floating and they are moving them with significant ease. I didn’t mention that in the last post, sorry. However, they are pleased with the offer to help and will respond appropriately.
I hope you both enjoy her birthday!
Having fallen asleep over more than my fair share of books while doing research, I'm guessing that between the hot bath and the hours of travelling and fighting she has done today, she won't last more than an hour or two and that's being generous.
I'll get on the equipment list as I have time; I want to do it in one block so I don't forget anything, and that'll probably happen on the weekend when I actually have a decent block of time for that stuff.
In the interim, however, can I safely assume that black pesh is the name you've given to the refined pesh I can find reference to? Well I don't see anyone in the party likely to partake of this stuff, but I do have a fine idea for an offensive use of it. Would Craft (alchemy) suffice to convert pesh into an (inhaled) alchemical splash weapon that grants its effects to targets hit by it? If so, what kind of DC would I be looking at, and what would the stats on the final product be? Mind that I want the full negative effect of the pesh, even if the target(s) also gets the drug's benefits.
On a related note, I'd like to do this with other drugs, or even poisons, that the party comes across and otherwise wouldn't use for much. Either make them into alchemical weapons in their own right, or add them to existing items to gain additional effect(s) on use. Something like alchemist's fire that ignites a secondary compound in the flask to release an inhaled poison, so that the target not only burns but also gets a lungful of toxic crap in the bargain.
That's a pretty neat idea, Garidan.
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Thank you :D. I got it while looking at the effects of that pesh stuff, and wondering what possible use it could be to us. That got me to considering how handy it would be stick an enemy with the effects, and maybe a raging addiction in the bargain, and it was a short hop from there to alchemical weapons :p.
I know the party hasn't had much use for Garidan's little tools so far, what with the monstrous concentration of magical prowess (and only slightly less monstrous martial prowess), but I'm aiming to cook up something that at least one of you is going to look at and say "I want that, and I want a good supply of it." And then actually use it. Maybe that'll be a prepper compound that leaves targets reeling and more open to save or suck spells, or something that turns inflicted wounds into sources of ruinous contagion, so that even surviving a fight doesn't mean a victory has been had.
I'm also pondering whether that oil of Vra'lithe can be diluted down into the oil that Garidan found to make it more flammable (and remove that 50% ignition chance that oil usually has as a splash weapon).
I'm also looking for rules--I know Paizo has some--for making alchemical boosters and such, performance enhancers for characters. That seems a good line of product to look into.
Haha. You and Truk do so much more damage than the dedicated casters. :-)
Personally, I would avoid any contagion effects. There is limited medical infrastructure and disease could ravage the remaining population. Particularly, since one of the main gods backing our enemies is the god of disease, whose main ally is the god of death. :-p That could get out of control.
Black Pesh is in the Player Compendium: Alchemy Manual. It is a stronger drug, DC22 Fort, gives 1d4 Str & Con. -2 save vs illusions. Grants +2 strength checks if you use a full round action, although that does 1d6 non-lethal damage to you. Let me know if you don't find it.
It is already an inhalant. So, I'd just say you need to find a delivery method, like a vial or something that would help dispense it into the opponent's face.
I like the idea of other combos. When you find any components you want to use, just let me know. We'll make it a craft alchemy roll.
Oh, that is a good bit different from the pesh I found, and not something that should be shared with our foes. Would be a good base for performance enhancer though.
Anyone heard from Gruskorb lately?
Garidan - if/when are you retiring for the night? Just trying to get a handle on timing.
Oh, that was my sleepy post, essentially. I'll let you get everyone else squared away, and my next game post will be when we're ready to book it from Haemil (at which point I'll probably try to get the others to sign off on some last-minute side looting). This weekend, I'll work up the revised inventory to include what you let us pilfer, and maybe see if I can grind out some new journal entries.
Wonder if Gruskorb skittered off for another of his vacations? He doesn't always remember to announce those :D. Personally, I rather suspect that these vacations are nothing of the sort, but perodic trips he makes during which he smuggles blackmarket platypuseseseses, because that seems a thing he'd do given his unnatural fixation on them :p.
I have not. I hope he is well.
Hope so too.
Besides the conversation with Truk, it appears actions are done for the night. I'll try to get a post in tomorrow. If not, it will likely be Monday unless I can sneak away from all the family activities this weekend. Truk and I can keep our conversation going in spoilers while we move the group ahead.
Don't rush on our accounts, finish up the stuff with Truk properly. That'll let us start the next phase of our adventure with nothing left outstanding. (And it'll give me precious time to focus on those journal bits, which are going to need lots of referencing, lol.)
I'm scratching my creative itch via PM, I want Truk to feel empowered, and it's the holidays. I suggest we follow Garidan's advice at least until Boxing Day/or late on Christmas if you have the next part all typed up. That should give everybody opportunity to do their thing. If they haven't done it by then, well then spoilers are always an option.
Don’t hold up anything on my account. I started this little segue to fill the time while we waited for the GM to be ready to move the story along. My empowering or lack thereof is under no threat.
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I'll update the inventory once Valjoen clears this.
Gear
Oil (3 casks), 18 lbs. 16 pints each
Collapsible bathtub, 20 lbs.
Ink (5 vials, assorted colors), - lbs.
Ink, invisible (1 vial, good), - lbs.
Quills (6), - lbs.
Masterwork spyglass, 1 lb. ()
Cardice oil (2 vials), 1 lb. each
2 Stormstones, 1 lb. each
Black pesh (5 doses), - lbs.
Mattaracor the Inquistive's Compendium Æustëra, 120th Edition (Traveler's Abridged Edition)
Volume 1: Beasts and Beings of the Ether (Knowledge [arcana])
Volume 2: Beasts and Beings of the Depths and Void (Knowledge [dungeoneering])
Volume 3: Beasts and Beings of the Settled Dominions (Knowledge [local])
Volume 4: Beasts and Beings of the Wild Dominions (Knowledge [nature])
Volume 5: Beasts and Beings of the Planar Realms (Knowledge [planes])
Volume 6: Beasts and Beings of the Unspeakable (Knowledge [religion])
Companion cold-weather outfit (Large), 60gp 12 lbs.
Companion cold-weather outfit (Tiny), 15 gp 0.5 lbs.
Cleats (5 pairs), 5gp 2 lbs. each
Cushioned inserts (10 pairs), 5sp - lbs. each
Insulated flasks (5), 2sp 1 lb. each
Red flame torches (11), 20gp 1 lb. each
Tanner's kit, 10gp 5 lbs.
Masterwork brewer's kit, 75gp 50 lbs.
Alchemical filters (57), 5sp 0.5 lbs. each
Wyrm's breath bitter (3 flasks), 30gp 1 lb. each
@Garidan - I'll take a look later today or tomorrow.
@Everyone - Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!
Yes. Felicitations to all who celebrate.
Oil (3 casks), 18 lbs. 16 pints each
Correct.
Masterwork spyglass, 1 lb. ()
It magnifies by 4 times. Using this takes -1 per 40 feet viewed as opposed to per 20 feet of a normal spyglass.
Mattaracor the Inquistive's Compendium Æustëra, 120th Edition (Traveler's Abridged Edition)
LOL, love it. I'll be adding it to the wiki.
Red flame torches (11), 20gp 1 lb. each These have a burn duration of an hour. Provided that someone is willing to track such a thing, could we measure that out in minute increments--snuffing and relighting the torch as needed--to get the most use of that time?
I'm not familiar with the item. Have a link? Same thing for Wyrm's breath bitter... link?
At this point, I've pretty much run out things that the party might find any use for, so I'd like to spend the remaining 170.5 gold pieces of value on an equivalent value of unspecified alchemical reagents. These are not generic ingredients, mind, but particular items with a per-dose price and intended use. Most, however, are fairly common things--salt, quicksilver, urea, and so on--and could reasonably be found in the various places that you mentioned being visited by Garidan and Gruskorb in their little pilfering expedition
No problem.
This item I instantly pegged as the perfect thing for Niyut, who needs a regular and constant source of dim light to work with, but would be given away by regular light sources.
This item I thought Truk'tosh--and his headmate--would get the most benefit from, though anyone could use it. Not very subtle, but then it's not supposed to be :p.
The alchemical reagents don't have any weight worth noting per dose, but I figure that a pound per 10 gp of value would good in quantity?
And glad you enjoyed the bit about Mattaracor. I see you wasted no time throwing that into the wiki's Texts section :D.
Lastly, can Garidan make use of the spontaneous alchemy rules from the Alchemy Manual? There's no link available that I can find (at least, not a legitimate one -_-), so I can't figure a way for you to read those for yourself.
Let's go with 10 minute increments on the torch. So, each is good for 6 uses.
Wyrm's breath seems fun.
Ok, on 1 lb per 10 gp.
Without a reference to review the Alchemy Manual, I'll have to decline their use. Let me know if you find a link or a document.
Let's go with 10 minute increments on the torch. So, each is good for 6 uses.
Wyrm's breath seems fun.
Ok, on 1 lb per 10 gp.
Without a reference to review the Alchemy Manual, I'll have to decline their use. Let me know if you find a link or a document.
1) Okay, so noted.
2) Yes, and one of the things Garidan will be looking into is making the effect more potent. Not necessarily a longer duration, just harder to shake :D.
3) Noted as well.
4) I have an electronic copy, but don't want to send it whole; treads too closely to piracy for my comfort. Will screenshots of the relevant pages suffice, either in an imgur album or sent directly to you? Alternatively, I can PM you the one link I found, and you can do whatever with that yourself.
And the party inventory has been updated and revised with all new additions and changes accounted for, with the sole exception of Niyut's familiar cold-weather outfit; that item, if she takes it, would be better suited for inclusion directly on her character page.
Screen shots are fine, thanks
Screen shots are fine, thanks
Sent you a PM.
Hello, all. Though I do not deserve forgiveness for my absence and understand you may have moved-on to someone else without me, you deserve an account of my disappearance.
Reasons being are actually four-fold.
I received a message from Niyut, who correctly remembered I wasn't feeling well. It turns-out what I thought was a cold from one of my kids was actually a fungal infection from when work I did on my mom's place. I don't recommend them; the treatments had me barely functional for nearly a week. It was especially not a good time, for I had lame duck nonsense to deal with in Michigan starting around that time. My setting changed from the bedroom to the capitol quickly. Then there was finishing of the gift purchases, which I very much dread and function like a 3-year-old when it comes to wrapping. Lastly the actual holiday visitations, which I've just returned from.
Earlier this week was when I saw a message from the alias Niyut uses IRL, but I didn't recognize it. I thought it was someone from my time in Lansing or someone wanting a gift. Neither was getting a view/response for a week, so here we are.
I'd completely forgotten about the game in the whirlwind and overlooked the thoughtful reminder. Let me know if you want me to write a wrap-up for Gruskorb.
As for now, I am off to get groceries. I need something without a million calories, or I'll be starting off the new year with diabetes!
We are a forgiving people. If you still want to play, I believe your spot is secure. Do you want to keep playing with us?
Also, did you get elected to state or national office? If so, congrats!!
So much for my theory of illicit platypus smuggling :D.
So sorry you weren’t feeling well! And, of course, you are always welcome at our gaming table. When you feel up to it and have the time, just write a catch-up post and we’re off running again.
Val
So sorry you weren’t feeling well! And, of course, you are always welcome at our gaming table. When you feel up to it and have the time, just write a catch-up post and we’re off running again.
Val
Then that is what I will do. Absenteeism is anathema to PBP games, and I feel guilty for having furthered it, regardless of the pressures causing the vacancy.
And on the office, no - I was part of a team which helped folks who did.
Inquiry: Have mushrooms become noticeably more/less prevalent in the world since our arrival at Talanor?
Now, I regret not asking for a gift. (Who does that?) :-p
Inquiry: Have mushrooms become noticeably more/less prevalent in the world since our arrival at Talanor?
All life has been more noticeably vacant from the world. Querkus would have noticed that even in the forest the undergrowth was dying.
I hope all of you have enjoyed the holiday season!
I've spent the vast majority of the time with my family enjoying some games, lots of food and a little wine. I plan on making a post to move us along in the next 24 hours.
Happy New Year!
I'm currently in the time consuming and stressful process of moving across the country for a new job, but my posting should slowly return to normal over the next few weeks.