Volcano's Land - Forged in Blood (Inactive)

Game Master Miner Cotren

State of the Game, December 2019

Another six months!

So we are down Marianne and Samoon, but I’m very happy with the group we still have. Recruiting for a game with this much backstory/setting is usually a dicey proposition, so I’m going to stick with the group we have for now. With that in mind, let me know if anything has changed: what you each want individually, or what goals you have as a group.

Loose Ends
--Where did Hotah's vision of relics and Sky come from?
--Why did he move to Rokerenge? Why did he choose to be burned?
--How much does tricky Uncle really know? What happened to him in Bertrude’s hut?

--Where is Bertrude now, after she abandoned the group to get away from Abbygailiwy?
--What happened to Chaska, your eldest Uncle?
--How does the Cedarsmoke tribe feel about Hotah and Uncle?
--How much does Cedarsmoke know about the heirlooms, and Sky?

--Who/what is Erret? Is he still truly dead?
--Is Bree waiting at the Breathless Valley? Is Abbygailiwy there now too?
--Where did Krissa go? To Light, like Marianne suggested?
--Where did Big Sitter go, now that his love is dead?
--Where did Yuma and the rest of Root retreat to?
--Is the v'Borio family still hold a grudge against your family?

--Where did that misshapen dragon come from? (lovely one) How did it control elens with brass?
--Why did Iniga see a vision of the priest tortured by efreet?
--Why are elementals and spawn becoming more common?
--Where is the last gem brother, Mahkah? What is his intention with the priest and the Hand?
--Why is gem magic so dangerous? What are the Fey doing in the North?
--Why was the Ambrosia griot slain? What is the tribe of peace?
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Goals
1) Samen wishes to prove his theory of one elen original race and language.
2) Marianne at this point wants to learn how to survive without relying on the gods.
3) Wamblee wishes to find peace, and a true path for oreads to live, if such a thing exists
4) Samoon is finding Bree. (if possible)

I find it pretty funny that Wamblee's DR was the only thing standing between you and the possibility of 12 strength damage.

Also, forgot to mention: please let me know anything I missed in terms of Loose Ends that you remember, or anything that needs updating in the Character Goals (especially Iniga, I'd love to hear what broad goals you have, as well as immediate goals based on the narrative)

At least one more thread:

-Why did Cedersmoke tribe send no representative to the Meet? At least, why none that arrived? Why did their absence at the meet seem to be expected?

As for Wamblee, that is still his deep-seated goal. However, more pressing matters have intruded upon his thinking. Many signs point to factions moving towards disastrous action. Urban riots, Darkspawn overrunning ancient Root, the shocking murder of the Griot by a fey-influenced oread. And the damned visions! So he is increasingly thinking about such matters.

Good catch on Cedarsmoke's absence! Adding it to the Campaign Diary (where I also keep States of the Game)

Iniga probably wants peace as well. She's focused on stabilizing Health etc for the moment, but she also wants peace / improvement for all the other tribes / races. She probably wants to get political / leadership material at some point but that might be a long way off. I might need to do a little more thinking

I would say Samen's goal has shifted slightly. Instead of trying to research evidence that might support his supposition, he's more interested in practical mastery of elemental nature to lead to a better understanding.

Cool, I've updated goals and loose ends accordingly. Thanks all!

Wamblee and Samen both know Sedime and Iniga has decent Linguistics. Do any of us pick out any meaning from Spes' broken wailing?

Also, did Spes make a fort save vs Wamblee's stunning blow for fatigue?

The snatches you catch are just sobbing nonsense phrases like you might get from a very upset child.

I will update with the fort savevs fatigue - thanks for the reminder! (there was a lot going on that last round!)

Actually nevermind. Spes just got pummeled into dust anyway.

GM can you confirm that like Spes was malicious / nefarious? Iniga was happy to go along but it was on very tenuous reasoning that we attacked him.

I’ll get a post up later tonight when I get back from work

Hmm, from your characters' point of view, here is the evidence you have:

--Spes came from the same malicious oreads that stole the priest, the Hand, etc

--Iniga heard those rumors months ago that gem magic was causing trouble with the Wyrmwood Tribe

--The Wyrmwood chief and magician have confirmed this tale independently, though their evidence is circumstantial (the chief's sons came back violent and using gem magic, the gems MUST be to blame)

--Spes seems to have teleported in Maht to attack all of you, which implies they were somehow working together, or at least that Spes knew how to contact or retrieve Maht.

So feel free to hash it out in RP if it's something that is still bothering Iniga :)

I just had Iniga just rationalize it IC as "Well Samen knows more about gem magic than I do due to race" so I don't see the need to hash things out in RP.

It just troubled me that up until Spes teleported in Maht all we had to go on was a divination effect which could easily have been a warning of what might happen rather than a true vision of the future - and that triggered hostilities.

Iniga doesn't count the "Gem magic is evil' line thats being trotted out as in her opinion, its probably more the users of the magic are bad rather than the branch of magic itself being bad. Thats more of a philosophical viewpoint though.

At the end of the day I don't feel super strong about it either way but it just seemed a bit...abrupt how things turned turned over like, 24 hours.

I think it's more that gem magic is rooted in the fey, which seem to not be strictly evil, but have a completely different idea about morality. They're on some unknown third dimension of the alignment table.

Samen was hesitant to make this call, but weighing the risk of killing an innocent creature against the destruction of elenity, he made a choice to kill the creepy thing that kept chanting in his head.

He was so special though...

Wamblee has seen enough to convince him that Spes was a corrupt tool of these malicious fey. He was disturbed by the realisation that the brothers were corrupted by this gem magic.

Very interesting discussion!

I think Marianne would simply agree to attack from a general distrust of elementals.

GM, technically swarm's don't threaten since they are a group of small / tiny creatures that attack automatically as one.

Its not a big thing, but would be we able to get a heads up on things like this as its a bit of a nasty surprise when trying to think about what action / tactic works best :(

You know what, you are absolutely right! I've been playing too fast and loose with these swarms trying to simplify. Erase that damage since you made your actions based on the typical game state.

@Iniga and Samen: Good thinking!

bigger update tonight.

I'll get to reply tomorrow.

Bunk beds came a few days early for the kiddos, so meticulous assembly took up a good chunk of last night. I am relatively sure no additional surprise furniture is in my future, so posting should recommence tonight.

No worries. Busy day here.

GM did I learn the command words to the Hand?

Iniga is probably reluctant to give it up / back because she thinks a member of the Church set the priest up (for the Hand to be stolen) and therefore she wants to look after it herself.

Basically she suspects trouble within the Church and that someone's making moves.

yep, you know at least 2 - the major one (which you are not 100% sure what THAT does)

1) The priest told you: "Irae Domini Vulcunus omni malo virentia"

2) and you also know the minor one that one of the brothers used against you: "Morietur!" but in terms of game mechanics that requires a Use Magic Device Check.

Neato

Btw is it a Use Magic Device check to use 'Morietur!', or to learn more command words for the Hand :)

Also noting these down before I forget

-Ask the priest about the efreeti I saw in my vision with him
-Ask him who authorized his mission, who knew he was carrying the relic, and the route he was taking. I imagine the list would be fairly small.

What is the state of the priest now GM? Is he good to talk to?

--Before I forget, just so that it is clear, the Irae Domini Vulcunus omni malo virentia has been referred by NPCs as something big, fiery, and uncontrollable, so not for use except in dire circumstances. If you say those words, something big will happen.

--As for the minor ability: Let's say it will require Use Magic Device until you get used to using a given ability of the Hand. That is, for now, you have not mastered any aspects of it, but if you successfully activate Morietur 3 times you will be able to use it with no checks. Once you have some success with that command, I will give you the mechanical details of what it does.

--Finding additional command words or abilities would require research and time, so for instance you could look around for knowledgeable ifrits at the Meet (there are a few isolated groups of ifrits here and there, interested in the Meet) and consult with them about it, or make sure you head toward some knowledge center after the Meet is done.

--And yes, the priest has been healed a little, he is resting in the wagon but awake, so you can certainly go talk with him. I will be around this weekend, so feel free to approach him whenever you'd like.

--Oh, and finally, because what fun is giving you a magic item and rules you can't use yet: If you would like to retroactively put your last rank of say Knowledge Geography into Use Magic Device, that would be fine :)

What I think I'll do (because I'm reluctant to mess with background skills etc) is use Spell Kenning to cast Visualization of the Mind (Intelligence), which temporarily gives me access to any skill for 1 min. Spell Kenning can only be used 1/d so it would take me three days before I can use it without UMD checks (assuming each UMD check takes 1 min). Next level up I'll put proper ranks into UMD anyway, because Iniga likes relics / special magic items :)

I look forward to seeing what Iniga does with the hand. :)

GM I'm pretty sure its the third time the priest has been asked who authorized his mission / knew he had the hand, and each time he has changed the subject or ignored the question.

Is this deliberate? Do I need to be rolling like, Intimidate / Sense Motive or something to actually get something out of him?

Lastly, I think the vision of the efreeti refers to Efreeti Tango - ie the Skald College. Is that college common knowledge though? Like, does Iniga know of it?

sorry, I wanted to answer all the other stuff first (so I didn't forget), and now we can get into the "next part" of the discussion :)

As for the Efreeti Tango....you would have heard rumors about it, like a secret society you aren't 100% sure is real.

This is a good time to ask I think, where do people want to go next? I'll probably want to visit Hearth again at some point, but I don't think I need to do it now - we can visit other places people want to go to first if we like. I don't quite know whats next on our travel plans.

Samen mentioned a few weeks ago in Discussion the idea of revisiting your shared goals, now that Samoon is gone. I'd be interested to hear from everyone:

--Personal/Party Goals for the rest of the Meet?

--Personal/Party Goals, or most pressing issues, after the Meet?

--Which then feeds into - where are you going next?

Posting tomorrow, apologies.

No worries, thanks for update.

I probably wouldn't mind visiting the Fey at some point, to learn about the Gem magic, but that feels a little risky. Still, at least we are in the area.

Iniga probably wants to go to Hearth but I feel like whatever is going on there will probably take some time to fully unfold. I'm mostly trying to set some things in motion now so that I can be somewhere else if we need to be, but also have things set up for my inevitable return at some future point.

I hope it doesn't feel like the priest is dodging the question yet again, but let's say his default is "ok, I'll go to Hearth" which will free you guys to go elsewhere. However, that really depends on the outcome of our present discussion (party goals, next steps), so the priest will go along with what you all ultimately decide. Fair?

Oh, and I always like to post this every once in a while about Marianne as an NPC:

I'm not personally advocating this as the best decision. Simply a viewpoint I think Marianne might think of. Marianne thinks about things in a pretty impulsive way, and she has been getting noticeably more reckless as the campaign (and her powers) have progressed.

I'm fine with Iniga's plan for Grico to go to Hearth and be our (potential) el on the inside. Wamblee probably should be more afraid of attracting an Inquisitor's attention (why would he ignore kin?) but really, after recent times, an Inquisitor needs to join the queue of els trying to kill us all.

Wamblee is definitely up for finding the fey and smashing the fey. They've started spreading insanity like a disease and he will have none of it.

Wamblee will return to the conversation, seeing that his siblings have seen fit to do so.

Apologies if this has come up recently, but I can't find our location on the maps.

Roughly how far do we think we are from both the nearest breathless valley (there appear to be a few) and the likely fey location?

If you look at the hand drawn map of Forest, you are a bit north of Tall Oaks labeled (AMATSHE)

The closest breathless valley would be to the east - go south a bit, hitch a ride on the Finger rivers to the east if possible, and that will take you to a) Light b) Cedar Smoke and c) a Breathless Valley.

--The farthest reaches of the North Tribe (where the Fey activity is alleged) would take 2, maybe even 3, weeks of travel, depending on how far north you are going and how the weather is

--Cedar Smoke etc to the east is about the same distance, but would probably take less time assuming you found a way to use the river to your advantage (built a raft, booked passage on a boat, etc)

(and that map of forest is found under the Main Map tab under Campaign Info)

Cheers!

Two questions.

1. What kind of cost is Mar talking?

2. Is Iniga going to get her cousins involved?

Here is the rough idea I have for essentially "recruiting" a unit like Iniga is doing:

1) You have to be on good terms with the captain/leader -- check

2) Depending on what you want your allies to do, the price will vary:

--Simple escort to Hearth, around 100-200 gp

--Staying with Grico in Hearth, keeping an eye, and not taking other jobs (if that's what you are proposing) would be more

--Trying to grow the ranks, or find additional allies if trouble happens upon Iniga's return; also more. All together I would put this at 2000 gp.

I'm using as a rough estimate here the idea of a magic weapon:

Masterwork = 100 gp, you get the basics (the escort to Hearth)

+1 = 2000 gp, a task that affects a small local area (spying), and adding more soldiers

+2 = 8000 gp, a task that strongly affects a local area or larger (trying to actively make a change, or rise in power), or adding enough people to become a small army

There is also going to be other complex factors, like who to trust, what sort of work they are willing to do, how much your personal charisma can help (kind of like leadership), but those are my initial thoughts.

So if you want to have more allies and a defense or sorts ready when Iniga arrives, that seems like it falls in the 2000 gp range.

Sounds fair GM. Technically though, there should be no charge getting Grico to Hearth, since the Temple should have paid that (unless they wanted to tip Grico off that they didn't expect him to come back).

Essentially, what I'm hoping to achieve is the following

1. Have someone nearby in Forge that Iniga trusts, that Grico could update or contact as required. This isn't essential but I'd feel better if we had it as an option. It also doesn't have to be Mar technically, but it does need to be someone trustworthy and decent in a fight.

2. Ideally have Mar on standby should the situation get really bad. There's a lot of moving parts in Forge at present. There's an oread faction causing unrest, there's a traitor(s) in the Temple, and probably a few more players in the background somewhere. Iniga doesn't want an army but she does want a trump card should a larger force be required.

The problem is, she cannot actually hire the mercenaries to sit around and do nothing. Its much too obvious and someone in Mar's company is going to drink and spill (or something). She probably wants them 'in the area' should she need them but she cannot hire them to stay in Forge because sooner or later someone is going to ask why a Mercenary company is sitting around in Forge doing nothing and seemingly able to afford this.

RE Iniga getting her cousin's involved: I'm leaning towards no. Like, she isn't going to make her Forge plans secret or keep anyone in the dark, but I don't see her actively asking to get you guys involved, mostly because she doesn't think any of you would care too much about what's going on with the ifrits. She's not offended by this but she does see it as more 'her' problem as opposed to 'our' problem as a result of this perception.

Fair enough!

As an ooc suggestion, are there any general threats near Forge that need stamping on? Say overpopulation of beasts or bandits? Good excuse, benefits els in general, and not so critical that it can't be dropped. But it would give cover for a merc group. Thoughts?