The Beginning of All Things (Inactive)

Game Master Terquem

Seeing his friend take a major stab wound, Phineas knows he must stagger the Sashi-Anhain soon or his friend will be in serious trouble. He swings his staff two-handed, looking for the that resounding "Crack!" indicatign contact with the enemies skull.

Staff: 1d20 ⇒ 9

Poseus looks at his own wounds with a confounded look, this had never happened to him before.
Feel so light-headed, what happened?
He sees the Sashi-Anhain still standing and calls forth a last bit of strength from his body. Stabbing the grinning Sashi-Anhain with his spear before finally collapsing to the ground himself.

"NO longer! No more slaves!" he calls out with his last breath
Attack, Two-handed, Bless: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 4 + 1 = 171d8 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

Over exertion, one standard action, take 1 point of damage and go unconscious. Some rolls to Stabilize if necessary Stabilize?: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 191d20 ⇒ 91d20 - 1 ⇒ (1) - 1 = 0

Day 5, 65/65 (Current Turn/Turn of the Day) (time, approximately 10:40 am)

Round 9

Poseus feels his strength slipping away from him as he looks into the eyes of the Sashi-Anhain. Alomar has run to try and help by distract the enemy, but is it too late? The villain’s sneer seems frozen, rigid, and pompus. With all he has left, Poseus throws himself forward. He does not feel the spear anymore and his hands slip off of the weapon as he falls to the ground.

The spear remains where it was, buried deep in the chest of the enemy. The Sashi-Anhain makes no sound, but slowly falls to the side.
With Poseus and the Sashi-Anhain lying on the ground next to each other the differences, the things that Poseus’ people have always made a point of explaining, are obvious.

The Sashi-Anhain’s body is different from a gymnaga, the reptile like lower body begins just below the ribs, and not lower, at the hips, as it does on the gymnaga. Its shoulders, chest and head are larger, almost human sized and not Halfling sized. Its lower body is thick and not very long, and the skin of the human-like part is a dull grey-green, the face course and angular.

End of Combat

Phineas hurries to his wounded friend's side and, laying his hands, on his wounds, asks for the power of Mithras the Lame to heal this poor fellow who fell in the service of right.

Trade Detect Evil for Cure Light Wounds and apply to the fallen Gymnaga

CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Poseus will stabilize and go to positive hit points. Looking at Phineas' and Poseus' character sheets I cannot see that the two of you have been tracking your experience points. Please do that for me, I would really appreciate that. I am going to say that Alomar had earned some experience before joining our group and now all three of you have 1350 experience points and level up. When Dieredon and Calex win the day in the encounter they are about to be involved in, they too will have 1350 experience points and reach level 2. I am going to ask Dieredon and Calex to pause, after they have rescued Lord Anticus and his Daughter (come on, you're going to have to live up to the idea of being heroes sooner or later, right?). The pause will be so that we can get everyone back on the same day. When Marcus returns to Woodbridge, he will have some interaction with the Maetaur, and find his skills as a craftsman and as a merchant have improved and he too will be at 1350 experience points.

I have been tracking the xp on Hero Lab, sorry it didn;t post to profile page. Using fast advancement, then? Also, how do you handle subsequent level HP's roll, average, max, or something else? I'll have the updated 2nd level profile up soon.

EDIT: Saw your answers in Discussion. Level 2 brings Phineas only more HP, +1 BAB, and some new spells, so nothing major, but alias is updated with his new statblock.

Day 6, North of Castletown, Riders to the Rescue

Dieredon digs his heels into the horses flanks and the animal jumps head like a bolt of lightning. He is light, the horse is fresh and well taken care of and he gains on the other rider.

Seeing the armored and armed elf coming hot on his heels, the villain throws the girl to the ground.

She screams,tumbles across the grass, and then lies still.

The other rider whips his horse’s rains and rides on.

Dieredon can stop and check on the girl, or ride after the man

Calex can attempt to run down the man standing next to Lord Anticus, or shout some kind of warning and attempt to dismount

Alomar stands panting, his sides heaving with exhaustion. He looks at the sun to check the time of day and is surprised that the sun hasn't moved at all. What felt like eternity was in fact over in less than a minute.

He looks at the magic being weaved by Brother Phineas and sees Poseus standing up again, a smile of relief comes to Alomar's face as he thinks this could have ended very differently.

Poseus, do you mind if I check your wound? Luckily Phineas had his magics at the ready. Are you unhurt Phineas?

Profile updated for lvl 2

Round 2

Dieredon will quickly dismount drawing his Curveblade in a fluid motion, and bend to check on the girl.

Ride: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21

I will get the rider by tracking him later.

He glances quickly at the man on foot by Lord Anticus and Calex.

Keep him occupied, I am coming Calex!

Heal: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20

Updated my exp in my alias, though I have a question Teruqem, do you reckon Poseus has enough experience with tracking and the outdoors to warrant a class upgrade to Ranger?

Poseus shoots up after the healing by Phineas and seems overly flustered.
"Ahh! What happened? I'm bleeding, a major wound in my stomach!" he cries out, he never thought anything like this could or would happen to him.

He sits upright panting and breathing heavily, checking his abdomen before finally falling back over as he writhes in pain. The wound though gone still aches teriibly.

As he lays there he hearsalomar's words softly in his ears.
"Please... do... Alomar..." Still not entirely sure that he is okay.

Just keep lying still Poseus, I will prod your belly a bit, just tell me if it hurts.

Alomar carefully looks over the wound in Poseus stomach. Before he does that he mumbles a short incantation to his gods (guidance) to help him assess the wound.

As Alomar prods Poseus's belly the sensitive tissue causes him to yelp and sit straight up again.

"Yowch, that's still tender." as he clutches his chest with a painful grimace.

Alomar smiles

Do you know the Maetaur saying "lenient healers make stinking wounds"? It means that if I am easygoing with you now, we all might regret that later if there was anything I could have found out by prodding a bit more.

After a slight pause

Now that does not give me any excuse to treat you rougher than I have to. To be honest I have never treated a Gymnaga, so my apologies if I should not have prodded that hard on your chest.

I think you will be fine, after you had a good nights rest. Unfortunately I do not think that there will be an inn with nice soft pillows for us with the Lyphs.

At Phineas

How are you doing? Your idea of flanking these creatures saved us, that way they were not able to overwhelm us.

Alomar then goes to examine their foes, are they all dead? If not Alomar will do some first aid to stabilise them. After that he will ask if Phineas is able to tie them down.

Brother Phineas shrugs off the compliment from Alomar. "I wish I could take credit for it, but I didn't know what i was doing. It was my first real fight, and now I've killed or injured this creature...I don't know, it all happened so fast."

He looks around in a state of near shock. The adrenalin rush from the combat slowly drains away, leaving Phineas feeling rubber-legged and worn out. He smiles at Poseus complaining of the pain, which is a good sign.

When he sees Alomar making to revive and tie up the injured enemies, he goes around casting Stabilize on them. Phineas realizes something important:

"Uh, guys, I didn't pack any rope. Any of you have some?" He then goes about searching the bodies of the Sashi-Anhain, looking for any clues about them, or any useful gear.

Look, no perception roll...unless you're having withdrawl...

ride: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12
charge: 1d20 + 1 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 1 + 2 + 2 = 21
damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
Calex decides to charge the man standing over Lord Atticus, hoping to prevent him from doing the noble any further injury. With 2 prisoners already taken back in town, Calex feels no pressing need to take any more captives for questioning. He gives no warning as he charges the would-be assassin and swings his staff at the man's head.

Poseus gets up, still clutching his abdomen, but searches together with Phineas he Sashi-Anhain's belongings.

If he finds any symbol or clue, he will try to indetify it. I'm not sure what Poseus knows about them, but he is the only one with a history with them.

"I have no rope with me, but are you sure you wish to save them? They are slavers, you saw that they fight without remorse."

Day 6, North of Castletown, Riders to the Rescue

Calex, sorry I wasn't more clear, and to make sure I understand you, the option I was suggestion is running the man down with the horse, this is an attack in and of itself, and is normally treated b the application of a feat, Trample. Trample does not allow the enemy a chance to avoid the attack, and your mount gets a +4 attack bonus, but since you do not have the trample feat I was going to consider allowing the enemy a Reflex Save, the DC would be your Ride Check, to get out of the way, but it seems that you do not want to run him down, and instead, ride next to him and attempt to hit him with your staff, is this correct?

As Calex charges toward the man standing over a body that looks to be Lord Anticus, Dieredon reigns in his mount, leaps to the ground and examines the fallen girl. It is Lord Anticus’ daughter. She is unconscious, but alive; there is a large bump on the left side of her forehead just above her eye, it is black and blue, but there is no bleeding.

Georgiana rides on past Dieredon in pursuit of the other rider. They gallop to the north, toward a grove of trees. At first Georgiana seemed to be gaining on the man, but now it looks like their horses are running at matching speeds.

After checking on the fallen girl, Dieredon draws his Curveblade and moves quickly towards the man who downed Lord Anticus.

Am I within charging range? If not, I will simply double move as close as I can get and attack next round.

Day 5, North of the Fox Wood

Day 5, 65/65 (Current Turn/Turn of the Day) (time, approximately 10:40 am)

A quick examination of the Sashi-Anhain reveals that all three of them are dead.

They wear no armor, and very little in the way of garments. Each one of them wears a vest made from thin leather sewn to a soft wool lining, it is hardly any kind of armor, but it does provide some protection to their chests. They wear bracers, made from cured leather and painted with a strange symbol (a circle drawn around a four pointed star, with a line drawn laterally down the middle). None of you are familiar with this symbol.

Each of them wears a pair of thin belts; one made from course, woven fibers with a wooden toggle to hold it in place and the second is a leather belt, with a metal buckle. The leather belt is fashioned with holes along its entire length, and from the holes, with cords, are strung a scabbard for their weapons and a small draw string pouch.
Each pouch contains a few coins, and one pouch holds a small crystal shard.

The coins are not common coins of the realm, nor are they Aladoan coins. They are small silver and copper coins embossed with the image of a crown on crown side and a four pointed star on the other. There are twenty seven copper coins and fourteen silver coins in total.
One of the Sashi-Anhain has a short bow, over one shoulder, and a quiver that holds five arrows. The arrows have a thick shaft and a large head made from shaped flint.

Their weapons are made from what looks to be a poor quality of steel, and show signs of rust in places.

Poseus, Phineas, do you recognise this symbol? I have never seen the likes of it or heard of such a symbol.

"I haven't seen or heard of anything like this before, perhaps our priestess Rosilindae knows more about it, but the Sashi-Anhain so close to us is certainly troubling."

Poseus looks over the dead corpses of his race's mortal enemies.
He shakes his head, grumbles and bows down to pick up the shortbow and arrows.

"He won't use this anymore, might as well put it to use or have a trophy."

He also picks up the bracers and pouches, thinking it might come in handy later on.

"So what do we do with their corpses? Let them rot or food for the predators?"

I do not recognize the symbol, fellows, but there may be some, including the Good Folk, who will. Yes, I suggest we take at least one of these bracers and all of the coins and shard. Give me a moment while I check all this for enchantments of any kind, I don't expect any, but have been surprised often since all this began. We should prepare to move out again, it's still a ways to the Hill of Cairns, but let's be careful this time."[/b]

Phineas mumbles a few words learned in his studies to the great Protetctor hoping for signal of any dweomer on these items. If he finds none, he nods to the others signaling time to move on.

Cast Detect Magic, just in case.

What would you suggest concerning the bodies Poseus? I am reluctant to light a fire to burn them, not only would it take hours before we could move on, it could also attract other Sashi-Anhain if any are near.

We also lack the tools to burry them. In the end it does not matter much whether a body is consumed by the ground or by carrion birds.

Alomar will pray for spells when we have lunch. Terquem: can I fill the lvl2 slots also or does Alomar first need to rest 8 hours?

...ride next to him and attempt to hit him with your staff, is this correct?

Yep!

"I would say let them rot! They deserve nothing more." He spits on the ground as he finishes the sentence.

He calms down a bit and says
"Well, you are right, burning them would only attract more attention, if we leave them here, they might be discovered or eaten. We'd better leave them here, because we might leave trails as well if we crag them toward the bushes."

Day 6, North of Castletown, Riders to the Rescue

Calex expertly guides the well disciplined horse toward the unidentified assailant. The man, a surly looking, short and stocky fellow with thick yellow hair, and a rough beard, raises his sword at the sight of Calex approaching. As it becomes obvious that Calex is not going to stop, the man’s eyes grow large with fear and at the last minute he tries to defend h9imself from the swing of Calex’s staff, but his judgment is poor and the staff catches the man fully in the chest and knocks him to the ground.

From a short distance away, Dieredon watches as Calex knocks this man down, but the elf can still see that the man is moving, trying to get back on his feet, as Calex rides on past and slows the horse trying to turn its face.

Sprinting as fast as he can, Dieredon rushes to the scene.

Day 5, MacNorra house, Marcus goes for Help

Alinda listen patiently while Marcus explains why he has come.

”yes, she is here,” Alinda says with a knowing look of concern, “Rosilindea and Cicily are going through a collection of herbal remedies and making a list of the common things they both know about them,” the Gymnaga girl continues as she turns in place and then gestures for Marcus to follow her. She says over her shoulder as she hurries toward a large building on the left, “Follow me. I’ll show you where they are.”

She leads Marcus in through a simple door set back in the stonework of the building to an atrium of sorts, an open part of the structure with the sky above. There are doors leading into other parts of the building, but this part is more like an inner garden and workshop. There are three tables, each is long and narrow. The tables are covered with potted plants, jars, and shallow bowls, mortar and pestles of various sizes, and small piles of dried powders, leaves, seeds, roots, and other things Marcus does not recognize.

When Marcus and Alinda approach a table where Cicily and Rosilindea are bent over a large open book, the two women straighten.

“Have you come here, alone, from Woodbridge?” Cicily asks. “I recognize your face, but I don’t recall your name. You are the son of the Craftsman, the one who mends our tools, aren’t you? What are you doing here? Don’t tell me we are too late and the Aladoan man has died.”

Day 5, North of the Fox Wood

Poseus, Phineas and Aladon leave the scene of the dead Sashi-Anhain, travel a few hundred yards to the north, and stop for a quick break. The Hill of the Cairns looms close ahead of them, perhaps another quarter of a mile and they remember why they have come this way.

For as long as anyone remembers, the standing stones on the Hill of Cairn have stood, quietly in place. No one knows who put them there or why, and it is said that the good folk (the lyph people) are the only ones who have ever delved into the passages below some of the standing stones to learn their secrets, but these are all merely stories.

What you can tell from where you are looking is that there are “cairns” (piles of smaller stones) and also huge individual standing stones scattered across the hill. There are several “piles” of stones spread out over the rising slope of the hill on this side, and to the right, while to the left there are several single , skinny but tall standing stones, some close to each other and others standing apart. You can see that on the top of the hill is a collection of Cairns, each over ten feet high spaced several feet apart.

Alomar looks in awe at the oft mentioned Hill of Cairn. He desperately tries to remember if there is anything that can be of use. A quick prayer to his Gods helps with that. Alomar casts Guidance

The Hill of Cairn is much more awe inspiring than I thought it would be. What do you think, shall we continue on and climb to the top?

"I have heard some stories about the Cairns from the elder villagers in Woodbridge, but I haven't been this far yet."

Poseus looks on and marvels at the alignment of the stones and cairns.

"We came here to get to the top, didn't we?" He says as he tarts his ascent to the hilltop.

Though his ascent isn't as fast as he had hoped, the steepness and his fresh scar still trouble him.

The Aladoan man is still alive correct?

Yes, he is fine, he is resting. Its actually a young Maetur man, he has a wound that needs tending to. All I truly know is that he was attacked, and there is still some arrowhead inside the wound. You two are the best healers we know and it requires your expertise. Please hurry, I am unsure how much time we have he says in a rushed voice, trying not to be rude but a life hangs in the balance.

“It is about half a day’s walk to the Hill of the Cairns, and a few hours past that to reach the edge of the Green Wood. I suggest you take care of anything you can think of before you leave, camp at the hill tonight, and then set out for the green wood early tomorrow. If you do not meet any Lyphs in two day, return, and we will have to try to find another way to cure Roan. Good luck. Do you have any questions?”

According to their instructions from Patricia, they should camp near here for the night. Phineas tells the others:"Keep eyes open for a good campsite, remember Patricia told us to camp near here."

Phineas was a bit taken aback by the Cairns. The standing stones, and the piles of rock made him curious about who built this place, and who was originally the first settlers of Woodbridge; he'd never thougth about it before.

He begain looking carefully around for any Lyph or sign of their passing.

Marcus - yes, when you left Woodbridge you understood the Aladoan soldier was still alive, but ill

"You are right Phineas, we should make camp later. As we still have some daylight remaining we should use that to look around for any signs the Lyphs could have left"

Poseus moves around the hillside to look for any clues about the Lyphs as well as keeping vigilance for any signs of more Sashi-Anhain.
Survival tracking: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16

"Perhaps we should make camp later on the hill, the view from here is excellent." Poseus calls down to the others.

He looks around wondering where the events will take him next as he surveys the surrounding lands.

Dieredon continues to rush to the man struck by Calex.

Drop your weapon and surrender!

If he complies then Dieredon will not attack. If he does not, then Dieredon will charge and attack with his Curveblade.

CB Att: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 5 + 2 = 23
CB Dam: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

Day 5, South of Woodbridge, MacNorra House

When Marcus explains the reason he has come, the women stop their work.

"Attacked!?" Cicily exclaims. “What do you mean attacked? Do you know the name of the boy?”

MacNorra House, continued

Rosilindeae closes the book in front of her, and says to Cicily. “I’m sure Auria is doing everything she can, but of it is as the man says, and the boy needs surgery, we should go immediately. She then notices the other Gymnaga woman behind Marcus, [b]”Alinda, go to the hospital and fetch the kit in the small black bag. Tell your father we are going to Woodbridge.”

Alinda doesn’t hesitate, but turns, saying, “Yes mother,” as she leaves.

Rosilindeae takes cicily by the hand and leads her around the table. “Young man, take Cicily and go on ahead of us. We’ll be right behind you. I must gather a few things here. Alinda and I will follow as soon as we can.”

Cicily leans into Marcus and hugs him, saying “Thank you.”
Marcus remembers the name of the boy who was injured and explains as best as he can the situation as it was explained to him.

“Garnin is a good lad, and he is strong. Why would anyone shot an innocent boy?” Cicily wonders as she follows Marcus back out of the building.

The two of them set out toward Woodbridge, they move in a hurry, but they do not run. Cicily can tell that Marcus has already run the distance to MacNorra House and she does not press the young man to run the whole distance back, but she does hurry him along for awhile.
Soon, Rosilindeae and Alinda catch up to Marcus and Cicily, and the four of them pick up the pace rushing back to Woodbridge.

Day 6, North of Castletown, Riders to the Rescue

Dieredon runs as fast as he can. Calex has turned his horse and then rides back to where the man was knocked to the ground.

When the man on the ground hears Dieredon’s command, he throws his sword to the side (he is still lying on the ground) and puts his hands to his chest where Calex’s staff struck him.

Both Calex and Dieredon then turn to look at the other fallen man. It is Lord Anticus, but he is dead, in a pool of his own blood.

Calex, I will bind this man for further questioning, then retrieve the fallen daughter. Please see if you can do anything for Lord Anticus. At a minimum, we will need to return his body.

Dieredon proceeds to quickly bind the man's hands and feet. he then returns to the fallen daughter, and after gently placing her across his mount leads it back to Calex's position.

I think she can use some healing prayers, Calex.

Calex gazes sadly at the murdered man, then begins to search the dead man's belongings for something to cover the body with, so that Lord Anticus is treated in as much dignity as they can manage out here. As Dieredon returns with the unconscious girl, Cal says "I'm not one called to serve the gods, like gentle Phineas, but any prayers and words I know are flying upon the wind, my friend. Let's see if my simple mundane skills are sufficient and hope our prayers are heard if not."
Calex begins to examine and treat the sole survivor.
Heal: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

I meant that if we return with her quickly enough, she will get the healing prayers she needs. I feel she is beyond both of our skills. I will await the return of Georgiana, and we will return with the prisoner and the body of Lord Anticus. Are you ok with that?

"I agree. Speed is essential." Calex looks around a moment. "Do you see Lord Anticus's rides? We'll need them to help get everyone back swiftly. Without them we'll need to load the victims onto our's and lead them back to town."

Georgiana and I will sort it out. Let me help you get the girl on your mount with you, and you can be off.

Dieredon lifts the unconscous form and lays her gently across the mount in front of Calex. He then gently but securely fastens her to the mount.

Ride, Calex, and get her the healing she needs.

Dieredon walks over to the bound man, and he begins pacing back and forth, ever vigilant for the return of Georgiana.

Day 5, The Hill of the Cairns, afternoon.

A quick tour of the hillside facing the Fox Wood reveals a few unusual finds

One of the taller groups of standing stones, upon closer inspection, turns out to be a structure of sorts; three sided, with a roof made from a single slab of stone. The structure is only a few feet wide, but it is thirteen feet deep, and the roof (along with the natural angle of the hillside where this structure occurs) slopes toward the ground near the back to where it is only four feet above the ground.

Three piles of stones, grouped very close together, show signs of recent disturbances in that the piles look as though a few stones from each pile have been removed. These piles are only about three feet high, and at first the removed stones seem innocuous, but upon closer inspection you discover that each pile of stones is meant to conceal a small standing stone that is partially revealed by the apparent acts of vandalism.

While none of the standing stones is remarkable, in and of itself, you discover one large slab, lying on its side (uncharacteristically) and this stone is caved with what can only be described as some form of archaic language (that is unfamiliar to all of three of you). In addition to the characters of this carving (each being about six inches high) there is a single, crude, anthropomorphic rendering of a woman, bare breasted, wearing a crown, and she has a lower body resembling a Gymnaga.

Further exploration of the hill, reveals little more than a few more unremarkable stones, piles of stones, and apparently toppled stones.
From the top of the hill you can see another stand of trees, or more appropriately a vast forest to the northeast, the Green Wood. The trees in this forest are significantly taller, denser, and more foreboding than the trees to the south (in the Fox Wood) and it is there that you hope to find the Good Folk. It looks like the forest is about six to ten miles away.

The sky is clear, blue, and bright, and there is little sign of impending rain. You can rest for the rest of the day, sleep, while taking turns keeping a small fire (enough wood can be gathered from a quick trip back to the edge of the Fox Wood), and be fresh in the morning, or rest for just a short while, and try to reach the Forest to the north before nightfall.

You seem to have made better time reaching the Hill of the Cairns than you expected.

Day 6, North of Castletown, Riders to the rescue

Calex examines the girl, his heart racing with mixed emotions, and realizes he cannot help her condition. He can determine that she is stable and not in any jeopardy at this time.

Assuming Calex does ride off with Rebecca, the daughter of Lord Anticus, he will ride slowly, with care, and arrive at the Castle in just over a half hour. There will be a scene with the people of the castle, question from Lord Anticus’ wife, and I will wait for Calex’s confirmation before proceeding

Meanwhile, Dieredon waits for a good while after Calex has departed

or Calex and Dieredon wait together, keeping careful watch over Rebecca

And in time a saddled horse resembling the one Lord Anticus had ridden out of the Castle wanders back to the area.

Dieredon can attempt to collect the horse, it is well trained, but skittish at the moment, with a successful Wild Empathy Check, the animal’s attitude is Indifferent, and the DC to affect the animal in order to change its attitude to Friendly, is 17. Before you attempt this, I would ask you to make a perception check.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18

Dieredon scans the area, then as he notices Lord Anticus' horse approaching, he attempts to draw it near for use in transporting the body of the fallen lord as well as potentially the prisoner that did him in.

Wild Empathy: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9

Dieredon realises, perhaps too late, that his armored and armed appearance is a source for agitation to the animal

Alomar addresses his companions "I suggest we move on to the Green Wood and camp there for the night. We should be able to find a better suited camping place there, if something would visit the hill of Cairns we will be very exposed, with no place to run to. What do you think?"

I have sent two private messages to Stolos, and there has not been a reply, yet.

We might have to assume that yet again a campaign that was supposed to feature characters from three prominent races in this small community (Humans, Gymnaga, Maetaur), is back to being about just Humans and Halflings.

And the hits just keep coming...
As you've all probably noticed, I haven't been very active lately. The reason is, with the recent pending trade issues with the U.S. the company I work for has decided to try to limit its exposure to the U.S. market for the foreseeable future. That means they're cutting back production by shutting down some lines and laying guys off- this during what is normally our busiest part of the year. The short of it is I've been laid off and need to find at least something temporary to make up the difference between my normal pay and what I'll get on Employment Insurance. They're hoping things will stabilize by August & we'll be called back to work, but in interim I've got bills to manage.

These steel tariffs have got things weirded out. If steel goes crazy, it'll affect infrastructure and construction. No building means nobody needs pipe. No pipe means no work.

All in the name of "national security". When have we ever been anything but a friend to the U.S.? I just don't understand. What happened to make everything change?

In any event, it means for at least the next 2 months, maybe longer, I'll not have allot of time to spend online. I'll be busy looking for at minimum a temp job of some sort, and working on-call shifts out of the union hall. I don't see any other options open but to withdraw from the game. This isn't what I want, not after the literally years Terquem and I have been playing, and if anyone has any other suggestions please say them. At this point I'd jump for anything that offers a solution.

Wish I had answers for you man, but I don't. Good luck.

Calex - I'm not likely to go anywhere, so I would be here waiting patiently for your return

But, that doesn't say much about the rest of the players, and one of the things that is *ahem* a bit frustrating for me in these PBP games is that there is a tendency for players to start relying on one “other” player to do all the talking to all the NPCs – let alone the desperate cries I make begging for the characters to talk to each other, God Forbid.

So, if Calex is just along for the ride, for a while, who will step up and be the “leader” of the party, hmmm I wonder. See, I’ll keep this game going, probably, even though I know I am disappointing the lot of you with my posting rate, but at the same time I could probably post more, if characters interacted with the setting more. Most of the time it feels like players in PbP games are just waiting for the next encounter to begin.

I would like to see the character’s exchanging ideas, interacting with each other, but let’s take a real count of who is here, shall we

Marwan
Calex
Ravena
Robert

Only 4 characters, and if these four characters do not talk to each other, or talk to NPCs regularly, not a lot of posting will happen. We can’t expect Calex to carry the out-of-combat encounter role playing, can we?

As calex is the lord I've been letting him do the talking. I'll have to step up to keep things moving and hopefully others will follow.

What sort of housekeeping do we need to do before setting out? I think you mentioned leveling up and I could use some better equipment but I don't know what can be had here and what I've got to purchase it with.

Yes, please make sure all your characters are leveled up to 4th level

roll hit points, but reroll any roll of a 1 or 2

HP: 1d10 ⇒ 4 That sucked.

HPs: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Ravenna will stay at level four and do a dance party revolution with pirate pinache.

You heard me. Pirate Pinache!

I too will be happy to step up the rp. I have been hanging back a bit trying to learn group dynamics and such since joining really and also trying to get a feel for the character herself. Also naturally there is always a leader, and the Lord of a town is most definitely going to be doing the speaking. If he assigns tasks or asks for ideas or tells people they can speak freely this helps as in this time, speaking out of turn to a lord or interrupting even the most friendly one (most especially to someone who hasn't been around long) would be suicidal literally.

I hope the four of you have prepared the way you want to. I will post an exchange between Marwan and Patricia at the bread and board, everyone is welcome to join in.

Why don't the four of you want to talk to each other about anything?

You all, each individually, seem keen on talking to NPCs, but not to each other.

I don't understand. Don't you have questions for each other?

Marwan - never a problem to make suggestions, and you are correct about what the rule book says about overland travel. And, even though I might not agree with the numbers the Pathfinder designers have come up with, it really isn't a wholly numbers argument

The actual distance you need to travel along the road is unknown, but it was suggested it is greater than 100 miles

You do not have a wagon

The road is not level, and the country is predominately hilly, often broken, and rugged. What you actually know about the road is very little. Setting out at a hurried pace, say walking at 2.5 to 3.5 mph, and taking advantage of the maximum amount of daylight this time of year (about 9 to 10 hours including dawn and dusk) - with breaks for resting, you might make 14 to 18 miles the first day, then settle into a distance of something between 10 to 15 miles each day after that - IF you never stop to talk to anyone along the way or, you know have an encounter.

Primarily though I do not intend to play out the whole overland journey but I hope to only highlight important events along the way.

getting a wagon and using a couple of pack animals and rotating them would be the smart way to go about it and provide protection from the elements as well as ability to carry more food and water for the trip, which we will need to replenish or buy.

The closest place to get a wagon, other than have one built for you, which could take days, would be Castletown, 23 miles to the west (the opposite direction).

However, there may be opportunities to get a wagon along the way.

well, on the way it is!

I'm really not sure about what to do with this game

There are three active players, two of these players are already committed to other games I run and so must find it tedious to put up with my delays

Marwan, I feel like it is you I am letting down the most.

The original intention of this campaign was both little adventures and world building with the characters having a direct involvement in the establishment of the initial town and the setting. Calex was the last of the original players. Even though I know the three players still playing are doing the best they can, it is not the kind of game it was started out to be, and getting your characters to buy into the setting hasn't been easy, mostly because of the failings on my part

I really am considering just ending the game rather than lead the three of you, by the nose, through a Pathfinder Adventure Path purely for the sake of experience points and character advancement.

I will keep posting through the weekend, keeping as much of the game going as I can, but as I consider the future of Woodbridge (which once again has no active Gymnaga or Maetaur player characters) please be prepared for the game to be ended.

I have a non serious family thing going on right now - will be back by Wednesday or Thursday to get a game post up

Yeah, sorry. I feel like this game isn't really compatible with the style of game I like to play, especially with my new work schedule taking so much of my energy, so I'm going to have to bow out of this one. I did have a lot of fun, and I hope this continues for you guys.

I'm afraid this game has run its course and will be shut down

Thank you all for your participation

Feel free to message me if you have any questions or concerns