The Blackscour Taint (Inactive)

Game Master Azih

Hey everyone. Hope we all have a great game. Virdel I think you're the only one who needs to create an alias?

Could you post what the people of town would know about you based on a DC15 Knowledge Local check? Astrianna I made it so you just arrived in town, is that okay?

Virdel since you don't have any knowledge local I assume that you're not very connected to the local going ons also?

Edit: Oh yes Albus, your backstory had your mother and sister dying as well? Did they die from this new disease you're thinking?

@GM Stargin Yes, that is what Albus believes or at least contributed to their deaths.

Hello, everyone!

I think we should decide what our characters know of each other. My character is an open book,any local would likely know the basics at least. Aelerie and I grew up in town together, but as he is outdoorsy and she bookish I not sure how much they would be around each other. The Hargs and the Wodewards are on different social levels so would have little contact except as to business I would think. Church socials might be a good place to have met though for deeper contact. I'm not sure if Virdel has a faith outside of his otheworldly connection. As Albus worships Iomedae (and Erastil) he could be introduced to Astrianna through the church. Everyone let me know what you think.

Let's have fun!

An approach that might make sense to me is that Albus and Aelerie would know a little bit about everyone in the group because of their Knowledge:Local. Astrianna and Virdel on the other hand wouldn't.

Edit: But it's completely up to you guys if you want a deeper connection before the game starts!

Hi everyone! I'm Kat, and I'm thrilled to have been picked for the game along with you all. GM Stargin, I've included a little blurb about Aelerie below, but I can add or edit it as needed. I'm not sure whether the townsfolk would be insular or not in regards to magic users, but I had the sneaking suspicion that they might be, so I made her magic a rumor rather than an out-and-out fact. Other than that, Aelerie's the type to try and befriend almost anyone, and since she helps run the general store, she's bound to have interactions with most people who live in the area.

@Albus I think it's safe to say the two would have had a few conversations over the years, but I'll let you decide how well they know each other. Out of curiosity, how long ago would his mother and sister have passed?

@GM Stargin Is there anything we can do to help make your first experience as a GM an easy (or at least relatively stress-free) one?

@Aelerie, I don't know what I don't know so I'll let you know as things come up :)

Posted starting scene for Aelerie and Albus to get things going while we wait for others to check in.

@Aelerie Since you're an Arcanist, I'm guessing that your char is some years older than Albus's seventeen. So they are friendly but not close due to lack of much in common. The scourge has been around a week, so I would think about a day or so since his family died.

@Gm Stargin Second the motion to help you GM Stargin. I killed off the family to reduce the NPC's you'd need to deal with. This module seems to have quite a few. Between us all, I think only Aelerie's mom is the only one fully introduced. The only important one left for me is a devotee of some sort for Erastil in the area. If there already is one pre-gened I'd like to know his name and whatever else I should know about him. If not I could come up with a few details or you can whenever you think it's useful.

@Albus

There's no Erastil follower in this module but the area is pretty much openly under the thumb of the Labor Constortium. It's safe to say they aren't very friendly at all to someone who wanted to preserve the traditional ways of life of Darkmoon Vale and not have it clear cut in the name of greed/progress and that fits with your background very well. As well since the town is one of lumberjacks who depend on The Labor Consortium for their livelihoods I'd say that Erastil isn't very commonly worshipped in Falcon's Hollow.

The main opposition to the Labor Consortium seems to be fey in nature though so I'd say your Erastil following NPC would be a loner of his or her own.

The various pathfinder wikis actually go deeper into Darkmoon Vale and the environments than the module does so if you do have NPC connections then please link me to where you found out about them so I can weave them in. Of course I might change some things to fit better.

These are the links to where I looked up background, a lot of NPCs for a small place and I assumed there would be more, maybe incorrectly.

Falcon's Hollow

Locations

Not sure where I heard of the Diamond Regiment but I did find this link.

Diamond Regiment

Lady Cirthana is the other NPC Albus would do almost anything for.

I think every other NPC are connected to the LC so would not likely be friendly.

As to a follower of Erastil, there are some farmers here, that while they may not be overtly friendly to Erastil they sure would want his aid.

So here's Uncle Zoius: An Uncle of Gaius, he's an Erastilian Druid, his wife passed a while ago and his children are long grown. His family is spread about the frontier of Andoran. He travels to various communities, helping farmers and woodsmen preaching harmony with the forests. Take only what you use or really need, do no lasting harm. Even clear cutting is okay if you turn it to farmland with care. Greed is wrong, it destroys communities, instead of building them. His crop blessings are much appreciated. He stays nowhere long, coming and going as he wishes. Not even Albus can figure out how he pops in and out of the Vale or elsewhere.

A fairly classic mysterious stranger trope, most people have little knowledge of him. Doesn't need to appear of course, just an influence on Albus's life.

Oh, also realized Aelerie's father is alive, just off-stage. So about 10 NPC's to regularly interact with? A good number, not too many to start with.

The Spoiler etiquette I wish to follow is that if something happens that wouldn't be known/seen by the group as a whole then please spoiler it.

Players are welcome to unspoiler anything but please note that your characters won't know what's behind the spoiler. Of course if the character the spoiler is aimed for explains or describes what is behind the spoiler then your character will know what it hid.

Thanks for the links Albus.

As for help. I think more than anything else I need feedback on how I'm doing.

I'm here and I have my alias made up. Thanks for inviting me, GM Stargin! I think this will be lots of fun. And I think you are doing great with it so far.

I don't think Virdel knows much about local goings-on, no. He uses his Cha skills mostly for business and while he participates in the local social scene, it's at a superficial level. He just doesn't care about this lumber town enough to focus on gossip.

I don't think he would know any of the other PCs although he might have developed a friendly relationship with Aelerie at her store? I could see that.

@Albus A day? Ouch... My condolences for his fake family. Anyway, friendly but not close works for me. Just FYI, though, I actually wrote Aelerie as being 17. The human starting ages don't list the hybrid classes, but I figured since she's half a sorceress and half a wizardess, some number in the middle would suffice. And by my math, 17 is between 16 and 17.

@Virdel A friendly relationship, it is. I'm guessing that Virdel can read lips?

@GM Stargin I love the story so far! Character-tailored beginnings are the best, and I appreciate how much personality you've given the NPCs.

Astrianna I'll get you started in the morning EST. Could you and Virdel post what people in town would know of you based on a DC 15 Knowledge Local check?

Thanks for the kind words Aelerie :)

Astrianna probably won't know much of the local goings on if she's just arriving. All she'll know is whatever the Church of Iomedae has told her when they asked her to come here to the temple. And she was warned that strange things are going on without any specific information.

@Aelerie: Yes, he can read lips and speak well enough to be understood.

I've never done that before so let me know if I missed what you were looking for. It's a really cool idea and helped me think more about my character.

Thanks for accommodating me guys. I'm hoping this helps ground your characters in the setting especially when you guys first run across each other. I'm hoping that'll be in front of The Roots and Remedies store.

I'm being a bit railroady to get you guys in front of Roots and Remedies at the same time. The game proper will start then!

Today has been busier than expected and the weekend looks full, by Monday everything should be back to normal. Don't want to slow anything down; I'll try to post sometime tomorrow, if I can. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, to everyone!

By the way guys, please check the link to a map of Falcon's Hollow posted in the campaign tab.

Link again: http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/pathfinder/images/2/21/Falcons_Hollow_M ap.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090416072343

I'd say the Church at 11 is where Aristanna is staying, The Paper Mill at 3 is where Virdel's office is. Albus and Aelerie can decide where they would be living in town those Aelerie's place of work is at 16.

Roots and Remedies is at 14.

Of course if you guys have different ideas then please let me know.

Alright guys I pushed forward just a bit. Aeleire, you can post an ending to your intro if you wish. A little bit of timeshifting and retoractive actions are unavoidalbe in PbP.

I might be away until Wednesday myself so have a very happy holidays everyone!

Sorry for the delay! Looking at the map of Falcon's Hollow, there's a little cul-de-sac west of The Sitting Duck (#9). Just west of the cul-de-sac is a little blue house I think is perfect for Aelerie's family. It might be a little easier to see in this picture.

Happy holidays, everyone!!

And you're all at the same place now. You guys can go ahead and start interacting and playing :)

@GM Stargin- I'm thinking maybe the way Virdel can communicate while out of combat is by using one of those old-timey ear trumpets rather than read lips. I just like the visual of him holding up one of those. And since I said he had a degenerative condition that caused his deafness, he could have learned to talk as a very small child before his hearing was gone. Does that sound ok?

There is this item:

Ear Trumpet

Price 5 gp; Weight 2 lbs.
By holding this specially crafted ear trumpet to your ear and placing the other end against a door or wall, you reduce the DC penalty for listening through a door or wall by 5.

That isn't really the effect that I want it for. What do you think as far as cost for a nice-quality ear trumpet which just works as a hearing aid in conversation?

That is a pretty great visual Virdel.

Let's say that a good quality ear trumpet costs 10 gp and out of combat Virdel will no longer automatically fail Perception checks based on sound but will need to make them at a -4 Penalty. And won't need to make sure he can see someone to understand what they're saying. One hand will be occupied when the ear trumpet is in use.

How's that sound?

@Aelerie were you thinking that you bumped into one of the PCs? If nobody posts the rest of the day I will go ahead as if you bumped a NPC. As I've said before I really don't expect the game to really start going until the new year but I want to push ahead at least a little bit while I'm around :).

That had been my intention, but bumping into an NPC would work fine as well. =)

Hi,
I think it would be best if Aelerie bumped into Virdel or Astrianna but I'll do a Albus post tonight picking up there if not otherwise taken up.
Need to run now this past week has been a bit crazy. Chow.

Great stuff guys. If it's not Virdel or Astrianna in four or so hours then I'll put in a NPC post and we'll go from there.

That is perfect, thank you! I will add the info to my character sheet.

@Gm Stargin For location of the shack he and his friends built after Da's death, I'll say up the north road a bit (the one #9 faces) and about where the gap in the map takes place on the west side of the road. Oh, what time year is it, what is he climate and weather like?

It's an Oathday near the end of Spring. The weather is good and it doesn't seem like that will change.

GM Stargin What does Albus know of Blackscour fungus? Do you want a roll on health and/or Knowledge Nature or want to roll it yourself? How much help to Laurel can he be?

I'll push forward in a few hours if no one else wants to say anything. Your answers will be in game Albus :).

On second thought it's really late in the year and I'm sure everyone's busy. Will pick back up on Tuesday and respond to anything people might have posted. Have a great new years everyone!

Yep, holidays are always rough on PbPs. I'm running off to another last minute event. Happy New Year to all!

Happy New Year guys. Hope you all had a great time.

I'll hold off for a little while longer to give anybody else a chance to chime in otherwise I'll post the next scene.

Remember Albus, I'll be rolling your Knowledge checks out of combat :)

@GM Stargin

Ok, np, I just wanted to be sure that I checked everything that Albus could. Should average out the same.

Asking questions is really good though for knowledge checks.

@GM Stargin

The town and its notables are listed on the campaign info tab. Do I know this stuff? In particular do I know that Vamros Harg is a powerful (to a first level), mage of some kind?

If you wish Great Uncle Zaius could be Laurel's grandfather, making her and Albus second cousins. If so Zaius could be just as mysterious to her as to Albus or she could know a lot and not be telling.

I am not quite clear on how the vale and town relate geographically. The town is on a river, crossing to the south go to the rest of the country. A mountain and forest lies to the north but where? Is the mountain east or west or dead north of town, is the forest, how far are they roughly, a few miles or multiple tens? Thanks, I'll go away now :)

I'll post after Aelerie responds to Laurel's concern.

Character level type information isn't generally known by anyone and certainly not to that level of detail. I'd say there are rumours about Vamros Harg just as there are rumours about Hildenstocks.

Geographically speaking the River Foam that the town is on runs from NW to SE. There are three roads that head north out of the town. The Lumber camp is on the one that heads NW and is on the edge of what remains of the mighty darkwood forests; most of it having been clear cut. The Darkmoon Woods are still extensive enough to stretch approximately forty-two miles east to west and around fifteen miles from north to south. There is a small lake at the heart of the wood which runs into the river. The southern edge of the forest is about eight miles from Falcon's Hollow.

The Lumber camp is about a day's hike away from town.

Droskar's Crag is the largest mountain and lies beyond the Darkmoon Woods on the River Foam. It is a dormant volcano that still spews ash one of it's snow capped peak and is easily visible NE of town.

@GM Stargin

Certainly not at that level of detail, I'm sorry I failed to make it clear I had no such expectation, when I phased my questions the way I did. I have no problems that the powers of Varmos Harg are only rumors but it does imply he is deliberately concealing them as Hildenstocks and Aelerie are. For instance he did not pronounce a death sentence on a murderer and with a gesture fry him with a lighting bolt before hundreds of witnesses or some other public display. On other hand the power of the cleric of Iomedae do seem widely accepted. No one would be surprised at a person going in with a broken arm and coming out a minute later perfectly fine.

So in a general sense, excepting magical powers, is it more than rumor that the town leaders are "tough guys you don't cross", because that have publicly demonstrated good combat skills?

Don't want to beat a dead horse here though, just trying to get a sense of the town.

No worries Albus. It's good to flesh out the setting and your questions are helping me do that.

This setting is very much Golarion and so it's pretty high magic. Witches are actually witches, clerics can magically heal people, hags and fey are real and people have seen them etc.

On the other hand though Falcon's Hollow is a very small rural lumber town and the people are pretty poor so they're not exposed to high level magic users and have the resulting expected prejudices. The fact that the fey are known to have a big problem with the incessant logging that's the livelihood of the town makes them superstitious about fey seeming magic as well.

So I'd say in terms of reaction to magic the people in town would be comfortable with divine magic with a readily identified source but not comfortable with arcane magic. Heck people in town are actually pretty angry at the moment that the local Iomedean cleric can't cast Remove Disease.

Vamros Harg is seen as a figurehead leader. The real power in town is the Lumber Consortium and everybody knows it. He doesn't use magic because there's really nothing he can do with it and there's no need to disturb the citizens. Nobody really messes with him because... what's the point?

People very much don't mess with the representatives of the Lumber Consortium (Gavel Thuldrin Kreed and Boss Payden “Pay Day” Teedum) because that leads to getting disappeared by probably very mundane means. The Sheriff and his deputies are a bit of an exception to this because Kreed and Teedum don't want to make a martyr out of the popular Baelson.

Still Kreed and Teedum are discreet in their use of power so it's always just rumours without proof that Kreed and Teedum are taking out their political opponents.

I get the feeling that we are talking past each other a bit. Let me approach it another way. The town has many tough, mostly illiterate men, hard working and overworked men. They blow into town after weeks of work and get likker'ed up. A bar fight breaks out with a dozen tough guys. Now maybe the Sheriff show up with a bunch of men but, in the long run, he'll have half the problems if he comes in and busts their head personally and drags them off to stocks or whatever. Then fewer will mess with him, he'll have earned respect that no amount of politics will give him.

In the lumber camp, even more so. After working the men sixteen hours for the third week straight, Teedum goes over to ride some guy chopping with an axe. The guys looses it and takes Teedum's head off. It's not rational but it sometime would happen. But with the classes and levels Teedum has he grabs the axe out of the guy's hands, beats him bloody with it's handle and makes him work through the night. Never says another word about it. He earns respect from hard men, that running off to the Magistrate would never give him, and keeps order under terrible conditions.

I guess that's my problem; the politics and all are very neat and rational but a frontier "Western" town isn't. Abstract fear of the bully boys or being disappeared would not keep hard, and hard driven men in line all the time. Think more of prison riots, they make no rational sense, the government will crush them and the prisoners know it. Doesn't stop them.

It just occurred to me that it might not be obvious that this module is a western in a fantasy suit. I was raised on them but that was a very long time ago.

What does everyone think? Is the feeling of the town is just a bit too neat and rational true? Or am I barking up the wrong tree? I do note very good individual character bits, just not quite feeling the whole setting yet. It's still early though, plenty of time and I am enjoying the campaign so far.

I think I can see where you're coming from but in the module and the setting Teedum and Kreed are very much the law in both the camps and Falcon's Hollow. As far as Kreed and Teedum and The Lumber Consortium itself is concerned labour is cheap and they can get more fools (like Aelerie's father, no offense!) to come in to replace any problematic lumber men. So if their workers cause trouble, then Teedum takes care of it and they recruit someone fresh. Over a while only the 'broken-in' lumber men survive.

Plus don't forget that in this world there are big bad monsters wandering around all over the place while in the Old West the hard men causing trouble were pretty much the most dangerous animals around. That by itself enforces a little bit more civilization on Golarion frontier outposts I think. Kreed spends a lot of money protecting the lumberjacks and the townsfolk from the dangers of the region.

It's a great discussion either way. What does everybody else think?

It might be the cold & flu medicine, or the fact that I haven't yet watched a Western movie and have no frame of reference, but I'm not sure I understand the topic being discussed. =/

@Albus If it's that Falcon's Hollow isn't as "gritty" (I guess) as you were expecting, I would agree with your previous statement that it's still quite early in the game, and so far our interactions have been with the more morally upstanding citizens of the town, I think. But if I'm mistaken, which is highly probable, maybe it would help to say what you had expected to see so far so we're all on the same page?

@GM Stargin I agree that the characterization you've given the NPCs so far is spot on. And the idea of the townsfolk being accepting of divine magic but suspicious about arcane magic lines up with what I was thinking when I wrote up Aelerie, so I'm happy to see our thoughts are similar there!

BTW for Geography I got a bit messed up for some reason. The lumber camp is NE of town, Droskar's Crag is NW of town. I also added some geographic information to the gameplay tab for what Aelerie and Albus know of where to go.

I hadn't really seen the Western influence but I think I see where Albus is coming from. I do think we are still in the first act where everyone seems good and we will probably see some darker stuff enter. I agree that the characterization of the NPCs has been pretty much seamless so far. I'm really enjoying the way this is going!

Don't want this to go on too long, it's a side track at best; the GM can and should tell his story his way. This started when I asked what we know about the town's leaders in reference to the summary on the campaign page. Boiled down it's all rumors, nothing solid. Great when it comes to mystic power, but it didn't make sense to me in regards to other people. Reason appears to be different genre expectations.

It seemed obvious to me that the town was a frontier Western, telling western tales. In that the villains where black hats, the heroes white, with the occasional grey. In that the villains don't really hide who they are and what they can do. They openly crack head when they need to, it's often seen, or at most taken behind the woodshed, and men hobble out bloody. The overworked men party hard at the saloon and brothel and there is blood on the floor most very day.

That is not the genre GM Stargin is playing.

The men work in a Soviet style gulag. These creatures, broken by the system, are hollow eyed, listless, drinking, not to have fun, but to blot out the utter valuelessness of their worthless lives. They make no trouble, there is too little life in them to bother bar fighting or do really anything at all they aren't whipped into doing. The area is mostly lifeless and grey, life itself is hopeless, even the possiblity of hope is gone. Why conceal the abilities of the leaders? There is no reason. A grey, dull, impersonal bureaucracy governs everything, hides everything because that what they are - empty. People don't fear being beat down, they already are. These people fear the midnight knock and being disappeared by the "secret police". Truth is lies and lies are truth in an Orwellian nightmare.

I am laying this way thick here, in most fiction and all reality it's never quite that simple. I made wrong assumptions and got a bit confused.

I'm on track now, I think. Chalk it up to being an old fogey.

Well it's not quite a western or a gulag. I'd say a rough and hard mining town would be the closest analog that I'm imagining.

Basically Sixteen Tons by Tennessee Ford.
lyrics here

You load sixteen tons, what do you get

Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

Hard men, working a thankless job and underpaid. Some do it to provide for their families, some just to drink their salary away. But whatever other trouble they may cause none of them dare mess with the company store (Kreed and his puppet Harg) even though they technically could.

Even this isn't a perfect analog but I think it's closest to how I think Falcon's Hollow works.