No problems at all. It's a weird class ability. Arimar is a necromancer and I'm happy for all the color you put into your posts. So, yeah, I like the description but I just wanted to dot the i's and cross the t's on the school of magic used and how the spell appears to others.
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Just FYI, I am traveling this week for training. My usual posting times in the day will be affected, but there is no reason I won't be able to get at least a post a day in.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Safe travels!
I had a hilarious moment where I realized that someone setting up a trap in a temple of Sarenrae is the Pathfinder equivalent of setting up a trap in a hospital. The circumstances are still super suspicious beyond obvious reason, but it was funny image.
Also, as a head's up, I'm still here, although I'm being a bit overwhelmed by time-sensitive commitments from now through Dragon*Con this Labor Day, after which I will be much more available. I'd be happy to discuss more specifics about my availability if anyone is curious, otherwise I'll spare you the details of HOA politics, work, and the herding of cats involved in trying to create a schedule for volunteers at a convention ;)
Lol. I have enough of that in my day job. Herding cats that is. I do remember fighting my old HOA because I placed rocks, yes rocks, by my entry way.
Thanks for the heads up and good luck.
I know there wasn't any concrete evidence that Ahriman was a projection or a figment, his lack of physical interaction (not opening the door), having a magical aura, being in a relatively vulnerable / surrounded location made me think he wasn't really there. But then, I have a thing about inductive logic ;)
Also, Day 1 of Dragon*Con down!
Hope Dragon*Con is going well. One of my favorite authors - Brandon Sanderson is there.
Hope everyone is enjoying the great weekend. That was a fun string of posts - reading about 2 necromancer types vying for control of undead, CMB attacks, and the addition of the followers of Sarenrae. I have actually rewritten that last post 4 times over the last 2+ days. Sorry it was so slow and discombobulated.
Ugh - choices.
Also just to give everyone a heads up, we may have a character (not player) change happening. I am interested in having fun, and I hope you are too. If for some reason you are not happy with your character, please let me know and we can structure a way to swap characters out for you. This is actually a very easy part of the adventure for that to occur so please let me know sooner rather than later.
Please post when you can, regular posting 'rules' begin again Tuesday.
Yeah Labor Day!
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Also just to give everyone a heads up, we may have a character (not player) change happening. I am interested in having fun, and I hope you are too. If for some reason you are not happy with your character, please let me know and we can structure a way to swap characters out for you.
Although I'm sure this is probably obvious to everyone, the above (I assume) is in reference to me/Keoki. I wasn't too in to playing as Keoki up to this point. I had thought I was going to love it, at the start, but it never got to the Aoife/Ibid plateau of enjoyment. There has been talk of switching him out for another toon, to increase my enjoyment. It mostly boils down to the fact that so far I've had a hard time getting into playing as Keoki. There have been a few post where I thought I found my stride/connected with this odd toon, but then it went back to a big feeling of disconnect.
Anyway, there has been a thought of trying to sub-out Keoki for a new toon. I just wanted to add in my thoughts on it. John has been nice enough to discuss it with me :)
I'm fine if Keoki wants to switch, but I was digging the multiple personality aspect and thought you did a great job of it.
Whatever is more fun for you, though, of course!
Actually, speaking of retools, if we are to stay in Magnimar, I will need to retool Arimar somewhat. A necromancer just isn't going to work in the city for regular encounters like this. Arimar is quite a weak cleric without at least a few undead between him and the enemy. He's not built (via spell selection or otherwise) to be anywhere near a front line or to even have any thing like a decent damage output.
I'm okay to do this (I think Urgathoa provides other means of progression than an army of undead), but abilities I have taken that assume the presence of friendly undead will need to be switched out.
Actually, speaking of retools, if we are to stay in Magnimar, I will need to retool Arimar somewhat. A necromancer just isn't going to work in the city for regular encounters like this.
Sure thing, we can discuss after you all decide what to do.
Or they might reveal themselves to be currently under my control... and that's a whole different set of questions I'd rather not answer.
And that was my struggling point - do I made this a thing with accusations and trails and BIG DEAL, or do we let Arimar off the hook for great strategy and building a character that worked in that situation.
The former is more real-life accurate, but the latter is way less boring.
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I'm fine if Keoki wants to switch, but I was digging the multiple personality aspect and thought you did a great job of it.
Whatever is more fun for you, though, of course!
Thanks for the compliment, Damien. I'm glad you liked the multiple personality thing. This was actually what I was most excited for when I came up with the concept for this toon. I thought it was going to be great fun. I'm not really sure why it hasn't clicked for me though, because I expected to love this toon and all his different/weird personalities, but so far it hasn't. Maybe because all the personalities, even Keoki's are so far different from my own, maybe that is keeping me from getting into it. Whatever the reason is, I'm not sure why :)
Erm, no trial, please. They can attack us if they like, and accusations are fine... but no trial. Is the use of the command undead feat illegal? The control undead spell doesn't even have the evil descriptor. I know channeling negative energy generally isn't a good thing to do, but neutral priests of neutral deities can do it.
That aside, yeah, no trial please. Glad you liked the strategy! ;-)
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Whew! What a weekend. Thanks for your patience with my limited availability.
I know I will be sorry to see Keoki go, but I know all about not connecting with a character. By all means, change what you need to! Benaiah is now rife with trepidation about all of his friends who need him dead for one reason or another... ;)
And my week of HOA meetings, travel, table managing, and car trouble is over! Dragon*Con was fun, but a ton of work, with 14 hour days and next to no internet access.
I enjoy Malgrim, but he's probably never going to be extremely outgoing / chatty, which has made him more challenging for me to PbP than some of my previous characters. I'm torn between sticking with him, or a character that is more loquacious :)
Ok, so if you allow the clergy of Sarenrae to question you, you all will be asked similar questions. But you will be sequestered so you will not know what the others are saying.
So it is up to you individually to explain what happened in the courtyard. Give as much or as little information as you want, they may ask for clarification or additional information. If you make claims, know they will dispatch someone to verify it. Also know that they saw you get attacked by the swordswoman after you ALL were told to stand down, and the robed woman RAN AWAY. They currently view you as the VICTIMS rather than the AGGRESSORS.
Rolls are unnecessary, unless you are really making s%@$ up, then I need a Bluff roll and I will add in modifiers for good RP (practically a given with this group).
I will roll Sense Motive for you off screen to let you know if they seem to be believing you or not.
When responding, please just REPLY to my post and for God's sake, put it in a spoiler.
When you have the time, and you should make the time, please read all the character's spoilers.
Awesome. Just Awesome. Every one is your character. Love it.
What's remarkable is that we all were pretty consistent with our responses, despite the individual manner in which they were expressed ;)
Just checking in, please make sure to ask any and all questions you have at the Temple of Sarenrae.
Once everyone is done, we are going to meet our new character, who is a Lockwood character - 'nuff said there.
Then decision time.
- Shadow Plane
- Spy/Strongarm network for Mistress Lanvi
- Discovers the mysteries of the Fountain
Remember to contact me if you are interested in a character retool.
Weekend looks bad for me posting wise, but I will do what I can.
See you on the flip side.
Once everyone is done, we are going to meet our new character, who is a Lockwood character - 'nuff said there.
i.e. it's a 'Lockwood character', which means it's super dumb :)
Arimar is uncertain about where to go, but I'm now leaning towards the Sarenrae pool option and using that as a potential way to get Lanvi on board properly - removing her dependence on the Collector and his promises.
As for rebuilds, it will very much depend on our next mission. I have a path of redemption ready for Arimar if we choose the Sarenrae route, including a small retool, and a path of crime route for following Lanvi including a larger retool (multiclassing a little) and the path of shadows (no retool, just Arimar as he was always intended to be).
So, hope that's okay, John.
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So well done John, I love the rope-a-dope about the third option. I legitimately thought that Ahriman was going to be the third option before the whole "kill all your friends" thing...
And FYI - "Lockwood Character" doesn't mean super dumb, it just means we will have to move his token all the time...
/gets off floor from laughing so hard at his own joke
I don't see re-tooling Benaiah at all, no matter what option we take.
To be perfectly honest, they all sound like a lot of fun to me. If you stuck a fork to my nose and make me rank them, I really like where Arimar is taking the thought process of Bethesda, the healing pool. I would vote to take that on, but eventually work that into creating a situation where Lanvi owes us a debt.
So it would go like this:
1-Bethesda - Sarenrea healing pool (and then maybe twist it with our interactions with Lanvi?)
2-Spy Network underground business/crime syndicate in partnership with Lanvi
3-Shadow Plane for the collector (then use the payment to establish our own crime syndicate/information broker network, with or without Lanvi)
Once again, to reiterate - I love all three options. I am happy with whatever we end up going with. I do think that character story and builds have a big part to play in it all, so don't be afraid to mention that. And by that I mean, I dig the redemption path for Arimar, and that could be really cool. I also respect that you built a zookeeper for a reason, and if the shadowplane makes that much easier, that is a legitimate reason to want to do that one.
Not trying to muddy the waters, just wanted to point that out.
Glad you know your bible. Broke a major taboo writing it in, but it is a story that has always captivated me.
If you are interested in the real fountain.
Just a reminder that even though I love the in character role play, it is not fair to make The Decision before we meet the new Keoki. I know everyone is excited and I appreciate that.
Just give me a little bit to have the character introduced.
And then we can take your talents to Sarenrae
Wasn't thinking of making the decision (from a meta-perspective), just wanted to know where the others were at and address Benaiah's comments. Take all the time you need to get Chris's new character introduced.
Cool.
On a side note good to know where you all are leaning. Been at by daughter's hair appointment for 3 plus hours already. My haircut takes 10 minutes.
Anyway gave me some time to get some writing in so once the decision is made I can move it forward in a reasonable amount of time. Whatever direction that might be.
"Would it be untoward if we simply killed the man?" Arimar asks Benaiah earnestly from the other side of the room, "I'm sure none would protest.
Chief of police? My mistake. I did a fair bit of reading on Magnimar (even picked up the player companion) for research on the Isle of Dread's initial chapter. I thought the Order of the Nail here were a mercenary company that were hired by the City (or was it the Lord-Mayor?) to help keep the peace. I didn't realize they were in charge! Magnimar, as I was aware, wasn't beholden to Cheliax or Korvosa (ie. it was its own City State). When did the Hellknights take over Magnimar's police force?
Of course, Arimar is far more well versed on Varisian goings on than I am, so please don't hold my ignorance against him. He'll still say it, but when Darean is definitely out of earshot.
True, they are a mercenary band, but one that specializes in protection and carries a certain reputation. While not officially the law enforcement of Magnimar, they are close enough where killing him would be a bad idea.
Cool. Just so you know, Arimar wasn't being serious - just a flippant comment out of his earshot, but one that he was hoping would elicit a respectful reaction from his fellow patrons (and maybe impress the cute halfling).
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Sorry for the no post today... formed out to be a very busy day. Will have more time tomorrow, hopefully can get one up first thing in the morning
-Posted with Wayfinder
Heh. I think the rule is, it's okay for the players not to post if the GM hasn't posted... but you didn't post after his post on Monday, so...
... probably need to go back to the old rule: RL > PbP (just).
No worries. I will be light posting because there isn't anything for me to do at this point in the story.
You are the main characters and this is your part.
Rest assured, I am here reading along if anybody needs me :)
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13 Rova, 4716.
Dear Diary,
It has been so nice the last few days while my characters are introduced to Chris' third character. I have to admit that I am glad he didn't pick the weird Abe Lincoln looking guy, but I confess I will miss Keoki.
During my down time of checking the thread constantly to see no new posts, I decided to do a little house cleaning. I started with the Campaign tab to remove all the old Chris avatars then I got rid of all Damien's countless avatars. The man has no fear. I made some characters NPCs, never done that before.
I deleted all the characters from the Audacious, sad to see them go but no more boats.
I added some new friends to the list of major NPCs, and I expect that list to grow. I even hyperlinked them to their character's first appearance showing off my BBC coding skillz.
I decided to see a personal trainer and he has me on a new meal plan so while Steve posted that he would post I went to the grocery store for ground turkey and some good veggies. I came home and cooked some sweet potatoes, boiled some whole grain pasta, and browned some turkey.
Now I am going to work on creating the encounter where they have to get into a new NPC's party. Found a cool map in my files that I like. Now to flesh it out with some cool NPCs. And I found a cool map where they find the <redacted> if they pick the Fountain path.
Well time is short, and I have behind the scenes work to do. Until tomorrow.
Yours truly,
The GM
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15 Rova, 4716.
Dear Diary,
Our GM totally went mad yesterday and posted his inner thoughts as though in-character... as himself. He killed most of my friends, too, but it's nice that he left me my 'Fido' alias to play with. Perhaps that was by mistake. I sure hope he doesn't read this! Fido? Fido?!?!
Anyway, it seems that someone called 'Gwendolyn' has taken over GMing duties so far. She's not as good at setting the scene, but has a very good handle on the single NPC she's introduced so far. Looking forward to more from her. She might even be PC material.
I hope the GM enjoys his new meal plan, and that he doesn't get too grumpy while his body adjusts. I might send him a decent recipe that makes turkey mince sing. Sign, I tells ya!
Time to sign off,
Damien.
1 lb Ground turkey
1 Zucchini
1 Carrot
1/2 Onion (medium-size, finely diced) - OPTIONAL
2 tsp Minced Garlic (or garlic powder if you don't have fresh stuff)
1 Egg
2 tbsp Soy sauce* (yes, tablespoons)
Salt to taste
2 cups Breadcrumbs (the finely powderized store-bought stuff, not from actual bread)
* Kikkoman is the best for this. If you don't have it or can't get it make sure your soy sauce is naturally brewed.
1. In a shallow bowl or plate, make a pile of breadcrumbs (while your hands are still clean). Might as well use all 2 cups. Set aside a clean plate for putting the finished patties onto.
2. Grate the zucchini (peel and all) into a large-ish mixing bowl. Do not grate the mushy, seedy center of the zucchini in, or it will be a sloppy mess.
3. Grate in the carrot also (peel and all), then add the finely diced onions, garlic, egg, soy sauce (seriously!) and ground turkey. The soy sauce adds salt to the mix, but if you like it especially salty, add some salt to taste here.
4. Mix the turkey and other ingredients with your hands until it all combines and comes together. If it is sloppy, then add some of the breadcrumbs until the mix feels firmer and pliable (like play dough).
5. Make patties out of the mixture. Make whatever size suits you. Once each patty is complete, dredge it in breadcrumbs and place on the clean plate you set aside in step 1.
6. Fry up, grill, however you like to cook your burgers* - but do so on a medium heat. Make sure it's cooked through - if you have raw turkey, egg or veg in the middle, it will truly be gross. A meat thermometer should come out at 170ºF (make sure you take it off the heat first, and get the thermometer in center!), or just man up and split one open to check.
7. Serve up like a burger, bun it, have it with rice and beans, whatever you like. F~&*ing delicious.
* It's a delicate mix, so don't get too frisky with the burgers or they'll fall apart.
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Oof.... I posted an apology post in here... It is probably sitting in my wayfinder app.
ANyways - so sorry for my absence. Its been nucking futs around here. Training at work, which means I am way behind in my actual work, a bajillionthings going on, the beginning of hte school year for my daughter...
I feel frazzeled.
Mostly, I am trying to make sure the busy-ness doesn't prevent me from missing any time this Friday.
As it stands right now, I have a new commitment that could potentially push into friday evening. Still working on making sure that doesn't happen, but I will keep you all updated.
Oh - Can't wait to try out those turkey burgers... Might have to do that this weekend!
So here is the deal, I have not enjoyed the pacing since I took a step back to allow you all to meet Gwen, and the intervening requests. So I am going to step back in with the following sequence.
- 1) Arimar suggested to meet with Mistress Lanvi so you will go there first. No rule of two but I am not interested in waiting 36-48 hours for seconded.
- 2) You will have an opportunity to visit the party Gwen was referring to. Feel free to retcon supplies
- 3) In the morning you will all be visited by The Mouth. He will give you all the details you are missing from his first meeting.
- 4) The Decision - you will all have to agree on a path forward. Be it Shadow Plane, Spy Network, or Fountain. Majority rules or Rocks Paper Scissors, best one out of one.
To make it easier, I am going to give you choices. Yes you heard me right, choices. I can easily combine the two most popular choices, Lanvi & Sarenrae. Additionally, I can structure it in a way that you can hire/subcontract out Secondary Characters to perform certain tasks.
What do I mean? Suppose you need to accomplish a task outside Magnimar. You can roll up secondary characters and we can take a 'side adventure' using them, while your Primary Character is still in Magnimar. This can be a separate thread, or the same thread as a 'cut scene'.
Again that is just a thought.
So back to the game ....
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Love the direction you laid out GM - and I think we all seem to be pretty well aligned with where we want to go.
Lanvi (already in motion), then party (sounds like fun), then the uncomfortable conversation with The Mouth, then we are off and running... somewhere....
And Rolling up a separate set of characters? Like a built in sidekick for Benaiah?!? Sounds like fun :) Sign me up for that!
Sorry for my slow posting of late. Hopefully I am past the worst of it now. I don't think work is going to slow down anytime soon, but if I can get back into a 'normal routine' then posting isn't an issue. My routine lately has been anything but 'normal'.
Happy with the direction.
My 2 cents on side missions - I think it would be cool to get hirelings and have them do tasks for us where the main characters don't want to go. I would rather not have to play them out, though, and am totally happy for you as GM to decide on the degree of success for their mission based upon difficulty, preparedness, random chance and whatever other factors you include.
I too would like a quicker pace... and on that, some very advance notice:
I will be in New Orleans from 7th - 9th of October. I will probably post in the morning of the 7th, but will then not be able (or willing) to post until the 10th. I will also be in Australia from 19th October to about 10th November. My posting will be sporadic and a little bit down under (ie. 14-16 hours different from USA hours).
I'm good with the direction of Lanvi / Temple of Sarenrae.
Also, as an update, after continually deteriorating internet connectivity (up to losing connection every 5 seconds), as of yesterday I have literally replaced everything network related in my house from the exterior connection to my PC. Every exposed cable, every splitter, every connector.
I also mailed out my complaint to the State Attorney General's office, so that's a huge weight off my shoulders.
And on a completely unrelated matter, it appears that for the duration of this campaign, my mild Ysdlexia has had me reading Lanvi was Lavni. At this point I almost think I'll keep up with it, making it a character quirk for Malgrim.
I suffered from June - July with similar issues. Was a splitter in my case.
Don't forget I suck at spelling. I could easily have changed her name numerous times in my posting.
Also rereading this
So here is the deal, I have not enjoyed the pacing since I took a step back to allow you all to meet Gwen, and the intervening requests.
could easily be construed as me being critical of you the payers. If you interpreted it that way, please accept my apologies. I firmly believe the slowdown was due to the structure of the introduction.
I could not have a better group of players - so give yourselves a pat on the back from me.
I did a fair bit of reading on Magnimar (even picked up the player companion) for research on the Isle of Dread's initial chapter.
Just a quick note here. I too am using this resource, but altering a bit here or there so basically it will be a guide rather than canon.
Also I pulled some material from the novel Blood of the City by Robin Laws.
I also have pulled from a bunch of other sources for the upcoming adventures, but that would be spoilery if I shared.
Fell free to read it if you have it, or the Pathfinder Wiki
Some will be very similar, but other items I will change a bit.
I will be in New Orleans from 7th - 9th of October. I will probably post in the morning of the 7th, but will then not be able (or willing) to post until the 10th. I will also be in Australia from 19th October to about 10th November. My posting will be sporadic and a little bit down under (ie. 14-16 hours different from USA hours).
Good to know. I too will be offline that weekend so we will pause the game.
When you are down - under do your best, but I understand. Have fun <insert culturally insensitive joke about Australia.>
Don't forget I suck at spelling...
...me being critical of you the payers.
Ha ha ha ha ha!
Have fun <insert culturally insensitive joke about Australia.>
Have fun squashing red back spiders and f%~$ing wallabies.
That ought to do it. ;-)
@ Everyone I need to know how you all want to move forward. The party is an optional encounter so if you want to go, I want to move you there ASAP. If you don't want to go I want to move to the Mouth encounter ASAP.
I'm good to go any direction. Whatever works for you (GM)/everyone else.
I'll put up a post explaining a bit more about the handmaiden, to make sure the information is out there. But that doesn't mean we have to push immediately too that.
Malgrim will never be the type to active look for a party, but he'll tag along if the rest of the party goes ;)
Don't want to muddy the waters, but isn't the Mouth encounter the following morning / midday and isn't the party that night (i.e. after the mouth encounter)? I say push on to the Mouth!
Oh, and Arimar is a yes on the party, if that wasn't already clear from the roleplay.