The Emerald Spire

Game Master Stormstrider

Everything is good. Just waiting to be greeted by the guards as we get to the Fort. Hopefully everything will work out with the prisoners and we can get some rewards from the Lady Commander and the sage for whom Aldhranhald is doing the mapping. We have a lot to sell and we may even lose a party member and gain another one.

I am not currently planning on RP'g ANY of your time in town, except for a Hell-knight getting assigned to join your group maybe? Is everyone ok with that?

Not sure why I'm bothering asking since no one has answered the question of which way to return to the Spire either ....

Stormstrider, even if we don't do detailed RP, we will need a montage & description of the Fort activities. This is Uriel's first time to the fort, we have lots to sell and need to disposition prisoners and dungeon mapping, plus we are likely to lose one party member and gain another. It might be nice to do some shopping as well if there are things we need that we could buy with our loot...

As for heading back to the Fort, Uriel would just as soon go back the way we just came out if it is simple enough, avoids the green portals, and doesn't take significantly longer than the top-down approach.

I am not currently planning on RP'g ANY of your time in town, except for a Hell-knight getting assigned to join your group maybe? Is everyone ok with that?

I don't mind but it seems Uriel does.

As to re-entering the Spire, I say use the tunnel, though I won't argue if the group decides on the other route.

Come on guys, answer Stormstrider's question/s.

Don’t care which way

*flips coin*

Tunnel

As for heading back to the Fort*, Uriel would just as soon go back the way we just came out if it is simple enough, avoids the green portals, and doesn't take significantly longer than the top-down approach.

*Spire

I apologize most profusely. I completely missed that question about which entrance to return through. I, like Uriel, thought we were headed towards some in town role playing. If that is all being hand-waved, then my opinion is to return through the same tunnel we exited.

How much additional reward/income are we expecting in town? What items are for sale?

How much additional reward/income are we expecting in town? What items are for sale?

First, I'm not clear, you ask what items are for sale? Are you asking what is available to purchase? Or are you asking what items you all are selling from your loot? - IF you are asking what is available to purchase, the only limit I place on it, is it has to be listed in a common book, or commonly found on the internet. If it seems unusual, give me a link and I'll check into it. As long as you have the money for it of course. - I've had DM's be difficult about what is available, and I had one DM who was a ... you-know-what-kind-of-hole about obtaining magic items. I don't do that.

I'll have to review the info about any rewards/payments you might receive once I'm home, so I'll try to get an answer to you on Wednesday hopefully.

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So from what I'm seeing the most of you are saying take the tunnel back to the Spire?!?! Just to be clear, you have no guides, and it is not like when you were coming out going UP, now you would be going down. If you take the wrong path, YOU WILL ALL DIE.

Under-dark creatures of death, evil drow, demons and devils = CERTAIN DEATH.

And there is no taking 10 or 20 on the survival check.

Taking the tunnel - IS THAT YOUR FINAL ANSWER?

Sure, I will check and see what items Uriel might want. There are some cool Iomedae/Crusader related items here.

Do we get any rewards for turning in the bandits or giving copies of the maps Aldy made to Lord Royst?

I am hoping Aldy made a map of our way out of the tunnels as part of his project. If not, we should be able to backtrack our tracks and some of the smart ones may even remember the route. I am still for going down the tunnel.

Maps, yes, there will be a reward. How much? Don't know right now, gotta look that up.

Rewards for bandits? Not sure either. Gotta look it up as well. That is why I said I would try to get you an answer on Wednesday.

I'll get off from work at 1 am, I will have to clean ice and snow off my car for the FOURTH time today (I'm beginning to STRONGLY dislike The northern mid-west winter), so will be very tired by the time I get home and not likely in the mood to look up that info. On Wednesday (my day off during the week) I like to spend some time on my PS4 playing Elder Scrolls, and I believe I might also be needing to go to the laundrymat. I will try to make an effort to look up the info and get it to you at some point in my day.

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Map of the tunnel? It was never mentioned, so sorry, but no.

Backtrack tracks? That would be a part of the Survival check. Again, not taking 10 or 20 because there are serious consequences for failure.

So from what I'm seeing the most of you are saying take the tunnel back to the Spire?!?! Just to be clear, you have no guides, and it is not like when you were coming out going UP, now you would be going down. If you take the wrong path, YOU WILL ALL DIE.

Under-dark creatures of death, evil drow, demons and devils = CERTAIN DEATH.

And there is no taking 10 or 20 on the survival check.

Taking the tunnel - IS THAT YOUR FINAL ANSWER?

Having given due consideration to the subtle hints given by our GM above I wish to change my vote to not taking the tunnel.

And thank you for informing us of the danger Stormstrider.

So from what I'm seeing the most of you are saying take the tunnel back to the Spire?!?! Just to be clear, you have no guides, and it is not like when you were coming out going UP, now you would be going down. If you take the wrong path, YOU WILL ALL DIE.

Under-dark creatures of death, evil drow, demons and devils = CERTAIN DEATH.

And there is no taking 10 or 20 on the survival check.

Taking the tunnel - IS THAT YOUR FINAL ANSWER?

So, what I hear you saying is, we should most definitely take the tunnel back down, it's the safest way to go... XD :P

I'd like to phone a friend...
Me: "Friend, should we go back down the tunnel or back the winding way through the levels of the Spire?"
Friend: "Tunnel starts with T, and that is also the word that starts the word trouble, so I'd suggest the winding way.
Me: "Okay, sound logic."

Also me: "Mr. DM, I'd like to change my answer to going back down through the Spire, please and thank you. And that IS my final answer."

Not being particularly smart himself, Uriel sometimes overestimates others’ memory. He will defer to the smart ones for the route back to the Spire dungeons.

He is also planning to look for an Amulet of Natural Armor he can buy, hopefully shaped like a holy symbol of Iomedae.

So, in Gameplay, we are still waiting to get back to the Fort, right?

WOW. Paizo never told me I had 2 new posts (Uriel's last two), so I just now saw them. Sorry.

Sorry I did not get a reply up yesterday, but my lack of sleep insisted on trying to play catch up. I got very little else done. I NEEDED that sleep!

I'm going to try to type up a gameplay post now.

EDIT: But now of course it tells me my own post is a new post ... :-P

Boudacia wrote:

... A Hellknight watching over us at all times, this is not good.

Party conflict? No, I would NEVER! Or would I? ;-) :-D

And my apologies to Chalkou if this gives you a difficult time at all getting included into the group. By no means are you required to stick to this, or make it difficult for the group or anything like that. I just thought it seemed to be an 'interesting' way to add you to the group.

Boudacia will probably accept Chalkou once she gets to know him. This was just what I thought her reaction would be. I mean she in Chaotic Neutral, and hardly wants lawful representatives of the government watching over her at all times.

** spoiler omitted **

Just a suggestion, take or leave as you will. You could wait until your shift ends, start your car, then go back in and sit and wait in a warm room in your place of business while it warms up. I realize that means you'll be staying at work after hours and not getting paid. It also, of course, means you'll get home 10-15 minutes later than you normally would, but you also won't lose your job, and you'll have the added benefit of driving home in a nice warm vehicle. Having lived in the Midwest my entire life, I've found that adjusting to the weather properly is more about planning and forethought than anything else. :) Just my 2cp.

Stormstrider- My sympathies. Sub-zero temperatures are not cool!

Uriel- I saw a post by you in game that we get 169 GP more than you originally posted. But can't find the original post.

So, I went through the adventure and counted. We have 8 prisoners. With each of them carrying 2 unloaded masterwork light crossbows and both Uriel and Gansu carrying 2 each, that means we can carry 20 of the 29 we found--not bad.

I updated the loot chart. Everyone has all the equipment they asked for. In addition, I assigned Sama the potion of Cure Serious Wounds, split the Cure Light Wounds potions evenly (we each get 7), and left the blackmail material (worth 500 gp) out of the calculation as we will likely want to handle that carefully.

Selling everything as planned (treasure/coinage at full price, everything else at half price), each of the 5 PC's gets 2416 gp plus some silver and copper. Please feel free to check my math in the loot chart.

Post bumped for easy reference...

Good suggestion Mended, but when I leave the place is closing and the doors being locked behind me. Cannot stay inside waiting.

I have ordered an electric heater pad that goes on top of the car seat and plugs in to the lighter of the car. It should be delivered tomorrow since I paid extra for the shipping. Hope it works as well as advertised!

And sorry again folks. The whole cold thing last night just left me in a dark place and I totally forgot about this game until it was too late to do anything from home today. So once again I will be delayed advancing the game. At least we have had to cancel my tabletop game for this Sunday, so I should have some time to get things really going again there.

Everybody still good? Still having fun and wanting to continue on? Any suggestions?

FWIW, and this may or may not come out in time IC, Chalkou isn’t there as the Lady Commander’s spy. His motivation is much more basic: the order’s mission is to kill monsters. The Spire has lots of monsters that need killing (and maybe some that don’t). On a more personal level, he feels like he hasn’t been able to prove his chops as a monster hunter sitting in Fort Inevitable guarding the roads from bandits. This is his big chance, so he jumped at it. As long as you squishy, undisciplined types don’t get in his way or try to overthrow the government, he’s probably not too worried about you. You aren’t hellknights, and can’t be expected to meet his organization’s high standards all the time, after all. :)

Still here!

Thanks Chalkou! Good info to have! I like how the non-hellknights can't be expected meet your order's standards! Hahaha!

Uriel- thanks for reposting the money we get.

Everyone- Do we want to buy a wand of CLW while in town?

Uriel will put up 150 gp for his share of a CLW wand.

Gansu will also toss in 150 gp for the CLW wand as a parting gift.

Sorry, this battle with the extreme cold is really taking a toll on me! I promise I will make a HUGE effort to get things up to speed on Sunday!

Not sure what I'm going to do about the cold though. They are talking about windchills possibly reaching - 40 or even - 50!!!!

Aldhranhald will certainly contribute any necessary amount to a cure wand. I remember asking earlier, and don't remember getting an answer. How many charges on the wand that we currently have? Anyone know?

Unknown. I will kick in my requisite 150 for a new one.

I also. Wands of CLW never go out of style.

I remember asking earlier, and don't remember getting an answer. How many charges on the wand that we currently have? Anyone know?

I don't see it on the loot chart, and I have no clue, so we shall solve this the true D&D way!

Charges left?: 1d50 ⇒ 20

There you go! 20 charges! :-D

Please note that in the future it will be the group's responsibility to keep track of such things and lack of such knowledge may cause wands to have no charges left suddenly. :-P

Chalkou, Could you please add some more info to your tag line? I would like to see at the very least: AC (including touch & Flat), HP with a current/total setup, CMB & CMD, Saves, and initiative please.

Also if you would please fill out at least your initiative & Perception on the following Doc: Emerald Spire Initiatives & Skills and as much of any of the other info on there as you can please.

I will carry the wand of CLW with 50 charges if it is OK with others. CLW is on my spell list. And we all cross off 150 GP for the wand?

Disclaimer here. I have played this level of the Emerald Spire before in person. Uriel will be taking a supporting role in plot relevant points for this level, so please feel free to move the plot along with minimal input from me...

Chalkou, Could you please add some more info to your tag line? I would like to see at the very least: AC (including touch & Flat), HP with a current/total setup, CMB & CMD, Saves, and initiative please.

Also if you would please fill out at least your initiative & Perception on the following Doc: Emerald Spire Initiatives & Skills and as much of any of the other info on there as you can please.

I’m try to take care of that tomorrow.

Heads-up: Busy week at work, working some OT, including 4 hrs on my 'day off' on Wednesday, so my responses may be a bit slowed down.

Hopefully after we get over this extreme cold spell (northeastern Illinois) maybe I'll be able to shake off the winter blues and get more active on here. Right now, the winter blues are drowning me. Forecast for Wednesday says the high will be NEGATIVE THIRTEEN, with a low of NEGATIVE THIRTY-TWO!!! and wind-chills possibly as low as NEGATIVE FIFTY-FIVE OR 60!!! And yes, we are still expected to come in to work of course. Right now I'm drowning in the 'Winter Blues'. I'm hoping to be able to shake them off after this bout of extreme cold.

Jesus! My sympathies for what little it may be worth.

I thought you were somewhere in the USA not Antarctica.

Seriously, where are you? I have been where it is sub-zero and realy unpleasantly cold, but not that bad.

If you can email yourself over to Western Australia, where today's max is 31 C. That is pretty good, though it will get excessively hot soon.

I did mention Northeastern Illinois. I am near Chicago, but for privacy reasons I won't give more details than that.

To be clear this is NOT the normal winter weather. This is an extreme cold spell we are enduring for a few days. HOWEVER, it is quite frequent that our temps get lower than Anchorage, freaking ALASKA. - No offense to anyone from Alaska please.

And yes, that 31 C sounds good! My family in Argentina is having days with the heat factor being slightly above 40 C, so they are suffering from the heat! My Sister wanted to find some way for us to exchange some heat and cold back and forth.

My new car seat heater is working GREAT so far! I actually had to turn the temp down today!

You are the Stormstrider! You’ll make it! Even if you need a little space heater!

SAMA?! did you not realize we are waiting on a Fort save from you?!?

If it helps to move the game along, Stormstrider, I am fine with you rolling saves for Uriel much like the initiative rolls. His info is easily found in the headers, and we can adjust afterwards if needed...

I do like to give at least a chance for players to roll their own saves when possible, just because if I start rolling their saves as well, where does it stop? Do I start rolling their attacks and damage as well? Does the player then get to do anything? - Obviously I know I'm exaggerating, going to extremes in my example, but it gets my point across.

That said, I will give Sama a little more time, but I will bot her Fort save soon if I don't see a post from her.

Gonna post this here just trying to make it more visible for Sama:

SAMA, WE ARE TRYING TO WAIT FOR YOU TO MAKE YOUR OWN FORTITUDE SAVE PLEASE. I WILL BOT IT FOR YOU SOONISH IF I SEE NO RESPONSE.

SAMA?! did you not realize we are waiting on a Fort save from you?!?

No, I did not.

So, at 8:05 AM the current temp is - 25 F and the windchill is - 49 F.

I just did a search for the current temp in Antarctica, and out of 8 different listings, only one of them was colder than this with it being -37. So in Northern Illinois USA, it is actually colder than in Antarctica.

"Put a bullet to me. Bullet in the brain pan, squish."

Anyone recognize the quote? (Without looking it up?)

I am literally striding through the Storm as Sama put it. NEVER thought I would be doing this when I came up with this alias!

Ironically, a scorching hot spell is forecast here.

Hope you haven't frozen solid Stormy.

Thankfully we've had 3 days of getting up to 40 F!!! almost feels like Spring! :-D