Volcano's Land - Forged in Blood (Inactive)

Game Master Miner Cotren

I was about to say that I'm fine with Samoon (temporarily?) departing in the near future to seek Bree. It makes sense in narrative and in party dynamics.

Wow, I guess if I was looking for a skill challenge with 3 perception checks, a spell craft check, and a concentration check all passed, I guess that all happened in one round.

Re: Samoon

Cool, sounds like we have a friendly consensus, and it certainly still leaves the possibility of Samoon coming back sometime in the future. I am also going to PM the player so they know what is happening if they ever decide to rejoin.

This all happened pretty quickly, so to recap:

--The Ambrosia chief is still watching over Matoskah and the magic spear

--Maht is captured, the Hand is in your custody

--Iniga has found a slain comrade and evidence of a kidnapped priest
------------

And just to speed things up, Samen's elemental detection doesn't find anything in the area. The priest and the abductor seem to be gone.

Let me know what you are doing now - just a simple vote like:

Marianne: sulk.

Staying with Ambrosia chief? Staying with the mercenaries? etc

I'd rather try to get answers from the brothers, so it sounds like I'm hanging out with the chief.

Chief it is!

I'm with the mercenaries at the moment. There isn't a lot further to say when she's still rather upset, and there seems to be no trail which means there isn't much of a need for urgent results / answers at present.

Cool, thanks for quick replies everyone!

Samen, just so I don't forget, there was only one charm that actually survived: +2 enchancement bonus to Intelligence if you decide to wear it around your arm.

Given time, you can tell the rest are protections, like stone skin, etc, that were one time use that he used up during the fight with you guys.

Since you were all injured, the Ambrosia chief is also giving you one cure moderate wounds potion each (including Marianne), so 4 total. Just add it to your inventory for now.

sweet, I'll take it!

The danger has passed, you've eaten dinner, and despite the deaths, the games will begin early tomorrow morning.

--Doing anything else tonight? Sleeping? Where are you sleeping? Keeping watch? Etc

--I think a few of you mentioned interest in multiple events. Here's the breakdown:

1) The earliest events include hunting, spear throwing, and the magical duels. You can only choose one.

2) All the games break at noon for lunch and tshala

3) magical duels in the afternoon for those busy in the morning, and continuing tshala tournament

--Or, if you are not interested in the games (like if you want to spend your time looking for the priest), let me know what you want to do

I'll take a stab at the morning magic duels.

Wamblee would go for morning hunting.

As for sleeping, Wamblee aims to regroup with Iniga, Mar, and the mercs.

I might do the magic duels but I'd probably need to know what the rules are / whats involved before Iniga would take part. There's probably a funeral though she has to attend anyway tho.

Ok, this is the official time when you are level 6, get back HP, spells, etc! IF you can, post what new stuff you are getting for your level.

Iniga, here is a breakdown of what I'm thinking for magical duels, and the other events:

hunt: simple, skill challenge with survival, attack rolls, etc

tshala: coin flip or agreement of what kind of tshala to play (wis or int) then roll

spear throwing: attack rolls, and, something?

magical duels: more complicated, but it involves taking your spells and trying to counter what the other person is doing, not attacking them directly. I think for those who had mostly attack spells like Samen, the matching process would put you with a mage that could summon, so you could each use your spells against each other in that way.

Level 6 Monk - Student of the Stone

HP 50 (42+8)

BAB +1

All saves: +1

Still DR 3/Adamantine

Flurry of Blows AB: +4/+4/-1

Stunning Fist 6/day

Ki Pool 6/day

Unarmed Damage d8

Unarmoured AC Bonus +1

Skills Improved: Perception, Sense Motive, Survival

Skills Gained: Knowledge Geography

Feat gained:

Pummeling Style (Combat, Style)
Your unarmed strikes weave together in an effortless combo, focusing on the spots you’ve weakened with the last hit.

Prerequisite(s): Improved Unarmed Strike; base attack bonus +6, brawler’s flurry class feature, or flurry of blows class feature.

Benefit: Whenever you use a full-attack action or flurry of blows to make multiple attacks against a single opponent with unarmed strikes, total the damage from all hits before applying damage reduction. This ability works only with unarmed strikes, no matter what other abilities you might possess.

Class Features:

Bonus Feat (Pummeling Style)

Impervious Feet (Ex) 30ft

HP: 45
arcane pool: 6
BAB +1
All saves +1
1 additional 0th and 2nd lvl spell/day
magus arcana: empower 1/day

I probably won't do the magic duels then, as Iniga's spells are buffs only - theres no way to counter someone elses spells. I'll have my level up posted a bit later today

Would Iniga opt out of the games this morning? It's perfectly fine to do so. Instead, you could:

Check up on Margherita and the other mercs?
Go looking for the whereabouts of the priest and the last oread brother?
Something else entirely?

point of order - I acknowledge the magical duel is weird and might not be fun. Please give me feedback on how the hunting, duels, etc feel - this is the first time I have tried a more free form skill challenge/spell challenge, so definitely open to thinking about ways to improve.

HP: 45
BAB: +1
Saves: +1 (all)
Spell: Glitterdust
Rage Power: Lesser Beast Totem

General Notes:

If we are moving on as a party without hunting down whoever took the priest, then Iniga will try and do it on her own today while everyone else is occupied - she doesn't want to leave it as a loose end.

If Wamblee hands over the Hand, she might also spend some time on the artifact trying to learn about its abilities and use.

If all else fails, she's probably going to visit Margherita and see how everything is going.

The magic duel is weird, since every caster is built differently and it would be difficult to come up with a fair contest for everyone. It might be better to present it as a series of challenges that could be overcome by a variety of solutions. Perhaps one obstacle for each school of magic, like a decathalon (octhalon?). Nobody would be able to deal well with all of them, but whoever could effectively handle the most the fastest would win.

Alternatively, if you want it to just be a skill challenge, do a series of spellcraft and knowledge arcana checks.

Wamblee has shown little interest in the fate of the priest. But if Iniga requests his help in battling those responsible, he will give it and assumes the others would assist also.

The magic contests...hmmm. Perhaps there are different varieties? Straight -up duels to injury or death? Challenges of knowledge? Obstacle courses?

0) Has Iniga been updated as the owner of the Hand in everyone character sheets?

1) Thanks for the level updates all!

2) RE: magic duels. I meant to respond to these earlier. Thanks for the ideas! For now I think that thanks to Samen's creativity round 1 was fun and short, and we don't have to worry about Round 2 until "tomorrow" in-game, which will give me more time to think about it.

3) The hunters have had their morning time, so I want to make sure Iniga gets time to snoop around for the priest or the abductor before we move on to lunch and the afternoon.

Yep I'm just stuck. The way I read the scene is that the priest is just...gone. I'm happy looking for him but there is no real starting point for us to pick up a trail. There's no indication anyone at the Meet knows anything, or that there is a trail, or that the abductor is still here. So I don't really know where to go at this point.

Since "you" don't know how to investigate (and heck neither do I) I've always just assumed that starting off with a skill is an abstracted way of getting a starting point of some kind.

It's cool for novels to have the characters find clues or get epiphanies completely out of the blue, but since one author controls everything it's not really the same. I wouldn't torture you by making you type out all your questions to the locals or anything :)

In short, just go ahead with a roll and say in general what you are trying to accomplish and we'll go from there. I agree there was no trail, so a social roll would probably be better. The mercs will be accompanying and aiding you.

Skill rolls can be a useful way of moving matters on. :)

Re: duels

I certainly like the idea of challenges related to the schools of magic, thanks again to all for the ideas. Samen's first duel would have been evocation, and I like the name duel of destruction, so there it shall stay.

This could also give Iniga a way to participate in a duel or two (there would be some challenge for the divination school, after all)

I will post updates to the basics of each duel as I write them. In-character, you could easily ask around for this info before lunch, etc.

This could also give Iniga a way to participate in a duel or two (there would be some challenge for the divination school, after all)

Actually probably not (which is still ok). Iniga does have abilities that make divination spells easier to cast, but she would only be casting such Divination spells via Spell Kenning which currently is 1/d and isn't meant for dueling competitions.

I wouldn't focus on bending over backwards to include Iniga into a magical duel since practically speaking - she will always have a martial focus and any spells she has are going to boost her offensive / defensive stats mostly (so basically buff spells since she has a low spell DC). Fighting competitions - sure she's good with that but magic duels are going to be tricky.

That's cool - thanks for clearing that up!

I've got a busy weekend, so I'm going to let the scene sit for now. Update on Monday morning. (or I might do some minor posts as Marianne, Margherita, etc if they are involved in a conversation)

re: 5 magical duel types

--In general, the winner of a coin flip can choose the type of duel, or choose to defer to his opponent. After the type of duel is chosen by the first duelist, the second duelist chooses the "setting".

Destruction - roughly corresponds to Evocation and parts of Conjuration. Destroying something in the quickest time, or causing the most damage in a set amount of time. Damage is usually used to calculate the winner. Setting = choosing the material/substance/area to be attacked by each duelist.

Creation - roughly corresponds to Transmutation. The most "creative" of the duels, this calls for a medium to be sculpted, shaped, etc by magic. Opposed (appropriate) skill checks--along with magical spells--are used to determine the winner. Setting = choosing the medium to be shaped/crafted.

Reason - very roughly Universal school. The most intellectual of the duels, this can sometimes take the form of riddles, or obscure magical knots that can be unwoven with sufficient concentration. Usually involves spellcraft and cantrip use to determine winner. Setting = choosing the small arcane puzzle to do.

Dreams - roughly illusions vs divination. A theatrical duel, these typically involve one duelist attempting legerdemain and illusions while the other duelist tries to discern the truth. Involves sleight of hand+bluff+illusions vs perception+sense motive+"seeing" spells to determine winner. Setting = choosing role of liar vs seer.

Death - representing the awful power of necromancy/death. Rarely called and almost never accepted, this duel has one simple purpose - kill or control your opponent, with spell and blade. No setting.

edit: Deception makes way more sense for the name of the 4th duel.

See you next week!

I've been adding to the "Oreads" page lately, particularly about the minor Tribes. For those interested, check out the last 3 pages for more info on every tribe that is shown on the Map of Great Forest. You would easily be able to gather this basic info just by asking and listening around the Meet.

Oreads google doc

the map of Forest

The sheer detail for this setting is fantastic, and it keeps growing!

I may not get to post again before Friday evening.

Sorry if I'm overstepping on the botting Wamblee, but I know you would have normally said something to help Samen out if you were around.

No, that's fine!

I'm glad that I've managed to get Wamblee to the point where his actions can be gauged. :)

Tiny stomach bug, definitely not posting today. My kids got over it in a day, so here's hoping it's short for me too.

Take care, GM.

Yuck. That's never a pretty sight.

Worldbuilder's Toolkit 6 on Bundle of Holding has some handy tools such as Hex Kit for mapmaking:

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Apologies for the delay!

Please pardon me because it's not my job to keep tabs, but is Iniga still here? It's been over a couple of weeks since I've seen anything.

I PMed, and work has been busy. Got an estimate of after Thanksgiving or so, which is fine since you and Wamblee are doing your own thing right now.

Yeah, I'm still here, still following this, and hopefully work should slow down at the end of the week.

General heads up for Samen though (since I already told them GM this) is that currently there isn't really anything for Iniga to respond to in Gameplay. This tribe is [u]extremely[/u] hostile to ifrits which means that its difficult for me to engage them in conversation or a game or something. Any post I would make would merely be a colorful way of saying "Iniga stands around and does nothing".

The scene will eventually shift soon and I'll have opportunities but there isn't much to respond to at present (which actually works while work is busy).

That all makes sense. I hope work levels out for you. Glad you're still here! :)

I'm glad as well. :)

Also hopeful that work eases off for you soon!