The Beginning of All Things (Inactive)

Game Master Terquem

No prob- welcome back!

Welcome back!

Welcome back Terquem!

Hi everyone.
Just a heads up- I've been dragooned into jury duty. The trial is scheduled to last 29 days and starts next Tues. As far as I know so far, the jury is not going to be sequestrated, at least not until we actually have to deliberate on a verdict. So I'll be home evenings & weekends for the duration and should still be able to post. However, if something changes or we are forbidden by the court from internet use (it's been done before to prevent a jury from being prejudiced by news & such) and I suddenly go dark, I didn't want to leave you with out some idea of what is going on.
I have no intention quitting this game. Any absence will be temporary if at all. That being said, I ask Terquem to post in my place if he needs to to keep things going.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
-Calex

Got it, Calex. Glad you are here

To celebrate our 32nd wedding anniversary, the wife and I are spending two nights in the Tamarack Lodge in Ketchum Idaho, so I will be away from computers for the weekend. Have fun everyone, thanks for being patient with me.

I’ll try to get one update in today before I go

Congratulations and enjoy!

Each character receives 150 experience points for defeating the ambushers

Congratulations Terquem, enjoy the weekend.

none of my games got updated this weekend, I'm shooting for tomorrow, after I digest all the birthday cake I've consumed...

Calex's plan:

Maybe we could force this prisoner into drinking some foul but harmless brew (Cal could do it with Alchemy, for instance) and then some one with really good Bluff skill might try to convince it that we poisoned it and only someone in Woodbridge (Marcus?) has the cure. What does everyone think?

I have been very busy at work and will leave for a long weekend away with my wife, sorry for the absence, will post again next week.

no worries, I was going to make a Marcus post as break, anyway, then get back to the captive

Happy Halloween everyone!

Yes, Happy Halloween!

Yes, very much, happy Halloween! (Dressing as the Tin Man tonight, family Wizard of Oz theme)

i am gonna be recovering from the sickness going around, and hiding from the general public.

Enjoy the Wizard of Oz theme, it sounds like a blast. :)

Calex, Dieredon, Alomar, Riku, and Caorann -

Before I post another update for this group, I need to make sure I understand what you've decided.

Will you continue to follow the trail (which will lead to the Tafganor camp, as the prisoner has suggested)

or

Will you decide to let the prisoner show you the way to the destroyed Lyph village?

We need to get after the prisoners. We can circle back to the village afterwards, in my opinion.

I would like to check out the Lyph village but I think Dieredon has it right- we need to free those prisoners as soon as possible. The longer we wait to do that the worse it will be for them and harder for us to get them away.

Spot on, Calex. My sentiments, exactly.

Hey everyone!
The trial I'm on jury for is going into final deliberations today, so I'll be sequestered until we arrive at a verdict. Assuming that doesn't last too long I've got a funeral to attend on Friday then back to work on the weekend nights. So it looks like I'll be a bit busy for the foreseeable future and may not be able to post until Monday at the earliest. Sorry for the hold up.

No worries, I think all that are still here are enjoying the game, not sure about the ones who haven't checked in in a while.

Sorry for your loss

Oh-thanks Terquem, I appreciate the support but the funeral is for a good friend's mother. I did know her fairly well, though, and she had been in poor health for almost a year so it wasn't unexpected. Both she and the family had plenty of notice that she was terminal, and she made sure all her final decisions were made and in place ahead of time.

Terquem and others

I am resigning from this game. I am in to many campaigns at the moment so I need to reduce my involvement in some.

I wish you all the best of luck, thanks for the year I spend with you.

Thanks for playing Alomar! Good luck

Indeed...it was a pleasure...good luck out there!

I hope everyone is tracking experience points.

At 3300 experience points you will reach third level

I will make a game post today (and try to get into this one more often, I apologize for the slump)

We are headed to the ruined Lyph village, yes?

Correct.

I am at 2825 EXP. I assume that is accurate.

Hey there. Mina the Maetaur here :) A pleasure to meet everyone. I -think- I'm going to be joining you shortly.

Welcome Mina!

Tough crowd. If I said I can start making magic items for folks, soon, and that I'm a healer, you guys would be more excited? :p

Also, forgot to list spells in profile. They're listed on the sheet. I'll get them copied when I'm not on a Kindle and have more screen real estate.

Sorry about that Mina, busy days.

Welcome to our game Mina!

Hey...I should get extra attention for being the only one to properly welcome you, Mina, right?

We have yet to meet, but I like to think if "I cannot make it, you don't need it" lol. Blacksmith armor smith and overall clueless when it comes to interaction with woman lol

:p. I'm mostly just messing around. And yeah, Marcus, I'll keep that in mind when her free time is being scheduled by the party :p. It's looking like the game is moving quickly compared to in-game days, so her services will likely not be as swift as in some games. :) either way, if we have spare coins, she'll take her time to make something nice for someone. :)

Hey everyone- I'm back from Jury duty and other stuff, back on the old routine schedule. I apologize again for that.

Aww. We lost Alomar? Gonna miss that guy.

Oh neat! New player! Welcome Mina! I hope you have fun with us!

We are going to move forward now, to the Altilyph village, and a special encounter there, but I sort of hope Poseus or Caorann will post soon and shed some light on the danger you are heading into.

Then Mina will make an appearance.

Broken water pipe,
Be back as soon as I can

It's great to see everyone welcoming the new player!

But, we made a bit of a goof (probably because I wasn't clear enough about the journey).

Mina is describing an attack on Kinamay Brawnoor , which is to the north (she has been travelling southward). Woodbridge is West (southwest) of Kinamay Brawnoor. Kinamay Brawnoor is north by north east of the Hill of the Cairns, in the green Wood (beyond the County of Woodbridge as shown on Dieredon's map.

Your party was already south (southeast) of Woodbridge when you were ambushed. The trail Dieredon was following went eastward from MacNorra House, but the Orc turned you to the South, toward a Lyph village in the foothills of the southern mountains. On Dieredon's County of Woodbridge Map your group is in the Dark Wood, about center of the wood, near the southern border line approaching the mountains

They are two different villages. Poseus, Alomar, and Phineas had travelled to Kinamay brawnoor, and Poseus met their Queen

Also, Poseus is the only Character left from the original group who has been to Mingary Bend, the Maetaur Village. he did not see anyone who resembles Mina while he was there.

Mmhmm. I went out of my way to have Mina ask if they meant the village she'd come from, as there are a lot of pockets of Lyphs. That was actually something I'd have her be surprised to find out... That another lymph village had been attacked. Because, as it stands, the tafganor must know something the pcs do not; they're basically moving as a unit to raze villages across the countryside... which suggests they know where said villages are.

Thanksgiving is just about a week away and I know it is a time here in the U.S. when many people spend happy times (and sometimes not so happy times, haha) with their extended families. I am off work all next week and will try to keep all my games up dated, but I expect everyone here in the U.S. will be a bit busier than normal.

Well, I'm sure everyone is thoroughly confused by now!

But, basically the party is in a lightly wooded area, it is growing dark (the sun is setting) and you need to decide if you will press on toward the lyph village to the south, or stop and make a camp for the night?

I'm as confused as I was when I arrived! I'm just running with it. Barely knowing what's going on makes sense for the character who's new to the fold :)

All enjoyed their ritual sacrifices yesterday, I trust? :)

Oh yes, four kinds of pie, yikes!

My response relies on a few things: Was the orc impacted by the darkness? Was it light enough for Mina's low light vision? Did the others not use torches? Mina has the light spell, and would have happily used it on an object of one of the other's choosing, as she didn't need the direct light as much.

It's sort of an awkward pet peeve of mine, hey wait, isn't there a thread for those.... But yes, the lighting is somewhat difficult to get pinned down.

The Tafganor is an orc (right out of the Pathfinder bestiary, no modifications) so he has Darkvision, which lets him see 60 feet in the dark, and that's great, but believe me being able to see 60 feet in the dark, in a forest, at night, when it is cloudy, is not sufficient to navigate to a location that requires being able to identify distant objects, like mountains, as landmarks. So that is why the Tafganor balked at going on in the "dark."

Now, how much light is there (so we can talk about "Low-light Vision"), practically none. As I said it is cloudy, and there is not a full, or even close to a full moon, so it is very, very dark, and I imagine a human could see, discern objects like individual trees, about 20 feet in these conditions, so Mina can see, what, 40 feet, well enough to keep from stumbling into a hole, or walking into a stream, or some other hazard, but find your way to a village with no landmarks, impossible.

So I kept dropping hints about how it was dark, and going on at this time would be difficult, but I like to give characters free reign, and the party decided to press on, and no one mentioned using a light source, so I sort of assumed you were all plodding along as best you could in the near total darkness.

Lighting torches will help, somewhat, but also give away your position and movement, a light spell can be partially concealed, and also be useful, with a smaller chance of giving yourselves away, but at this point, I think it is safe for me to say that Rudggual will lead you all, slowly, to where the small group of lyphs he is caring for are camped, and then deciding to go on to the lyph village should be a group decision, and should include some discussion about the use of light sources.

Thanks Mina!

Yeah, apologies for that. I knew the orc was having trouble navigating, since he couldn't see distant objects, and was growing frustrated, but I wasn't positive he had actual darkvision. That's something Mona would point out. She'd also likely have a random piece of jewelry or even just a stone, that she wears on a reckless with a belt pouch to cinch, adjust, and uncinch around a light spell.

I didn't realize the party wasn't using light sources. Mina would have totally offered to provide light. She's got a lot of high utility spells like that, because while she may not agree with the established systems, she does like to be helpful. I just hadn't had the logic click that we had no light source until I specifically saw the lyph pointing out that we didn't. Stumbling around in the dark with 40 feet of vision, even, in the woods doesn't change much, compared to just stumbling around in the woods in the dark. You either know a path, or you don't.

:p. It's not that I wasn't paying attention,just that there's a lot to take in. I'll have Mina ask about the light source once the group opts, or doesn't, to press on.

Thanks for the feedback, Mina - I am learning a hard lesson about how I run games and dealing with player expectations

It is morning of the 10th day - other than a bit of political exchange between Collin, Dieredon, and Mina, not much has happened and the group is ready to set out for the lyph village as soon as everyone is ready. I will update Marcus this week, and keep everyone aware of what is going on in Woodbridge (though your characters will not have this information I think it's good for the players to see the village in action each day). I am sort of taking a lot of liberties with Riku, but the player has not responded to Private messages and I'm afraid he may have lost interest in this game. Poseus, Calex and Caorann can contribute as soon as they are willing

I feel the game has lost some of its momentum, and I will try to get it back, thank you all for giving me the opportunity to run this game.