The Sounds of War (Inactive)

Game Master Arcmagik

When I get home from work tonight I am going to write up Akiros' story, plus moving the game along. Then I have to write up the exploration rules, etc since that is going to become quite important at that point.

I was only able to get through the story... but I think there will be enough talk after that to last until I can work on the exploration stuff this weekend.

Afterall, technically, Akiros just admitted to being a "bandit".

I have added the following rules to the campaign page.

Will we be tracking hexes explored & xp gained independently, or is this for reference?

I will add XP to the total in the campaign section. I will also be doing a map as you explore as per the campaign info section as well.

I'm working extra shifts this week & I have family in town, so I will likely not be able to check more than once a day or so until next weekend at the earliest.

I understand with the holidays that things will slow down a bit. Work will probably be fairly busy for me as well since I only work three days this week. I would like to see the group out into the Greenbelt and into the action by next weekend though.

Bring on the Heat!

Works for me. I just have a 4000 word essay to write, so have time on my hands. Looks like the game is about to hot up a little.

Anything else you want to get out of Akiros? Otherwise I will just wrap it up and move onto the next day.

I cannot think of anything personally.

Given that Tad isn't taking part in the conversation since Lord Kesten asked people to leave Akiros alone, or at least that is Tad's interpretation & he went back off to spar as a result, nope, nothing to add.

I'm sure we will have more questions for him later, but I am ready to move on whenever.

As far as Valeska is concerned, he's dense or lying. She has patience for neither.

is Valeska blurting the name out around Kesten, Akiros, the party in general? There isn't much context surrounding the blurting. I assume it was directed at Akiros at the moment that he is moving to eat but I learned not to assume a long time ago!

It was sorta to herself, as if thinking aloud. She is jumping to some ironic conclusion/possibility... But is not insistent.

She is probably somewhere between Akiros and Kesten, maybe not directly but in position to intercept the stranger if he were to attack her mentor. She's protective.

Akiros and Kesten would have heard it, everyone in the vicinity. Her voice is clear, typically.

I've never read the AP, so I'm jumping to conclusions too.

I've never read the AP, so I'm jumping to conclusions too.

I own Kingmaker and have read Stolen Lands several times over... and it means absolutely nothing since he's changed it up so much. Gotta say, it's been a real treat so far! :D

In that case, if she's right... I want extra credit for jumping to conclusions! :)

I was thinking about asking about Falgrim too, since Kesten mentioned him and considering he's joined the Stag Lord and may be known to Akiros. Maybe show him the picture if he hasn't heard the name before (which might be necessary since he didn't know his friends name).

Do it. :)

On a completely meta-note the man who was the "Stag Lord" doesn't have a name, which is why Akiros can't know it (even if he had thought to ask in the thick of things; I kept that part of the original background).

I'm Baa-aack!
I'll check gameplay later tonight & Tad may start taking part in the conversation again, considering that his sparring partner is.

** spoiler omitted **

Grendolynn & Erostil return with the bodies of two bandits as well.

What time of day do they return? Is it still night or is it next morning yet?

The night passes uneventfully. A group of soldiers remain awake to continue to work on the Keep's walls, but otherwise the expedition sleeps. Oleg is working up a morning meal which fills the keep as the sunrises and the morning bells are rung. The night-time soldiers will go to bed with a full belly and the day-time soldiers will go to work in the same state. Grendolynn and Erostil make it back to the Keep just after sunrise.

Posted just a few posts above that post. Just tying up a loose end.

What hex do you want to cross / explore / play the fiddle and make friends in?

Because I can wrap up the burying of bodies, and moving out into the field in a single post.

Oh, Akiros was also suppose to give you the bandit camp location which is Hex 0025, and the Temple is Hex 0024

I think going for the Temple is the better option right now. If we can rescue/release/whatever the real Slim Shady, er, Stag Lord, hopefully he can give us more info on the bandits and especially the evil druid. Even if that doesn't work out, we can help "close the deal" with bringing Akiros around to our side.

Sounds good to me.

I think that's a good idea too, especially since I've heard that the fight with Kressle has been known to be a TPK fight.

And it isn't going to be made easier by the fact that the game is basically two parties combined and the encounters have been modified accordingly...

This is the third game of Kingmaker I'm in/have been in. The first one died at Olegs (but not until after we easily killed Happs). The second one is ongoing but is totally different from this (cough Sergei, cough). We never encountered Kressle or found the bandits camp. Happs died in one blow before we ever talked to him, and the other dudes got away.

I'm excited to see how this one goes.

The other Kingmaker game I was in just folded, just before the Kressle bandit camp. We actually managed to take Happs & all of his boyos alive.
Only for my character to execute them after being the one arguing most vehemently against execution...
I too am very much enjoying this, however we go, I'm having a blast.

"Only for my character to execute them after being the one arguing most vehemently against execution... "

Heh. That's funny. Why did your character change their mind?

Never played it.

I think I bought it, to see an example of a "module" in case I ever wanted to write one. But, it was clearly so different I stopped reading/skimming. About 2 years back?

I remember Oleg, Stag Lord and Hexes! In that much detail.

All new to me.

I don't foresee this game folding anytime soon, but I have lost a bit of steam with the holidays. Trying to keep that going which is why I wanted to push forward and get the characters out of the keep.

Grendolynn - I have realized that mostly because of the other game (cough Sergei, cough) that I need to be careful not to make the game a running series of encounters and hexeploration. Not enjoying that as much... Hard to keep the characters together in my head. And the random troll encounter scared the crap out of me, because it had us dead to rights if not for it eating the horse instead!

I'm loving the other game. But, different strokes different folks. This one's good too, a lot more plot going on here. :)

Losing steam with the holidays and so on is perfectly understandable. There is a real world outside Golarion.

Personally, I am actually running the adventure path in real life, so this is a lot of fun for me. Many names I know and recognise, but the new takes on them are really cool.

They never changed his mind. Technically he wasn't so much arguing against the execution as arguing that everyone recognize the real reasons for the execution, i.e.: 'We can't really risk letting them go because we are spread too thin to properly police them, rather than 'They are evil 'bandits' & we have a sworn duty to execute them'.
About half the PC's had the former bandit trait, although my character didn't know it at the time.
No, my character wasn't one of them, he was a House Rogarvia Bastard.
He performed the executions because he was the only one with actual military experience: Cavalier.
I had his backstory that he had been apprenticed to a Paladin River Lord much father south, on the border of Galt & became a Cavalier rather than a Paladin because he was CG, rather than LG. If you have the Guide to the River Kingdoms you know which River Lord I'm talking about.

As a side note since I just had to look over the treasure list...

Oleg took everything that no one spoke up. (Erostil "claimed" the Alchemist's Fire and Teyran "claimed" the Composite Longbow with 20 arrows). The 125 gp was not included by Oleg and you will have to determine how to split that up or apply it to the possible horse purchase.

I would say to throw it at the horse purchase personally. Would it be possible to get our hands on a wagon at all? Just thinking that as Erostil for example can't ride, I would rather have two horses dragging some kind of a cart, and then we ride in the cart.

Just thinking.

Would save some gold. A medium wagon is 75 GP (60 GP with discount), and would only require one light-horse to pull, but will sit 6 people. You need someone with Handle Animal or Profession (Driver) to control the reins. You will still need 3 horses at that stage, but with 2 already then you will just need to purchase 1 horse. That would bring the total down considerably to only 180 GP (60 GP for Wagon, 120 GP for Horses).

Alternatively you can buy a single large wagon for 100 GP (80 GP with discount) that would still require 1 horse to pull (you have 2 free horses) and will sit 8 people. You will have 1 extra horse for the rider at a total of 80 GP for the purchase.

A wagon though will be harder to get through some of the deeper forest where there are only small game or single horse-trails. (I am looking to see if their are rules on that, it could be come a moot point and mocked up to "It's fantasy!").

My problem with wagons is much the same as my problem with trying to run cavalry maneuvers.
In Forest.
Without roads.
Anyone see where I am going with this?
Yes a wagon is cheaper than mounting everyone. It also has an advantage of not needing to worry about all those mounts while we are in combat or exploring a site or something, unfortunately I feel the other disadvantages outweigh those advantages.

My two cp.

Yes, Tad has pointed out what I said in my last sentence.

Remember through that riding a horse does not require skill checks. Fighting while mounted does require skill checks.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/skills/ride

I agree that it would make it hard work, however there is another big thing that in my opinion works towards making it logical sense for having a wagon or cart.

We can carry more. If we are just on horses, then we are going to be rather limited in terms of the amount of equipment that we can take with us, and will most likely have to resupply once a week or so. This means that eventually we will be using all the resources that we have just to get to where we want to explore, only to have to go home to resupply.

On the other hand, looking into Ultimate Combat, the rules for wagons there seem to imply that we could be carrying several thousand pounds of equipment, including food, medical supplies and so on. If we are able to stay out for much longer than normal, then surely we can get a heck of a lot more done, and if we were to find a significant treasure hoard, then its more easil transportable.

On a more sombre note, if we were to have a dead person, then getting that body around will also be easier if we can simply cart them in the wagon, than if we have to work out some other improvised system.

Just my two coppers.

Carrying more is more readily accomplished by travois than wagon where we will be spending time, at least while we are in forest. Travois also has an advantage of we can pretty much make them on-site. I'd be very surprised if Grendolynn didn't know how to make one.

It's called a Bag of Holding, hellooo? (A Knight's Tale reference, sue me). I couldn't resist... A travois would be fairly easy to make with rope and canvas (see a tent).

It's called a Bag of Holding, hellooo? (A Knight's Tale reference, sue me). I couldn't resist... A travois would be fairly easy to make with rope and canvas (see a tent).

My point exactly.

I'm leaning more toward individual horses, myself. It seems like the better option if we can afford it. Just so long as everyone makes sure that they are on foot and the horse is away when battle is joined.

Grendolynn is not a skilled rider, and unless the mount is battle trained doesn't want one.

Since random encounters with trolls was mentioned earlier in the thread, everyone on horses means we can run away faster from other such random encounters... like shambling mounds and will-o'-wisps. Both are notorious for killing low-level PC's in Kingmaker.