Osric's priorities right now:
1. Get some rest! He's too old for this.
2. Return to the lair, determine if the curse is still active, eliminate the elementals, and salvage whatever knowledge can be gleaned from whatever was non-flammable.
3. Achieve a detente with the temple.
4. Once things settle down, evaluate whether or not the gasp trade has any other major operations in town.
Osric is largely unphased by the threat of the Dark. While obviously dangerous on the frontiers, the status quo has been so stable for so long that he views it merely as the ultimate boogeyman keeping the church in control. Like he said, he's far more concerned about the dangers that other elens represent.
Primary things...
1) Keep an eye on Karina, the girl's had quite some trauma
2) See if the temple is accessible, hopefully the 'curse' is lifted as we were't incinerated when leaving. Need to get back there before the news spreads and looters get in.
3) Repair her relationship with her brother, hopefully they can bond over mutual trauma
4) Meet up with Elfie, she was avoiding her while v'Manco was targetting her friends, hopefully that was something that died with him.
5) Research v'Manco, not sure how much she'll get, records are likely a temple thing... but if she can find out where he acquired the Ruby etc...
That's probably enough to be going on with.
So unless you guys have anything else to say to Dove, I think now is a good point for:
--The four of you to narrate yourself to a well-deserved rest
--And this will mark the beginning of our two week "fast forward" period (so ending 11/5)
In the fast forward period, we'll be posting summaries more than individual actions and dialogue. You don't necessarily have to post every day, but keep me updated overall on what you're doing from day to day.
Also, a reminder to go to Level 4 now that the day is over.
Apologies at the delay; it's a busy week. I'll have Odebie leveled likely on Friday.
Thanks for the update!
One other thing that occurs during this period:
In recognition of your service to the city, a trio of priests visits the Dims Watch (rather than visiting all of your residences) and offers up sacrifices of birds, lizards, and rats to enchant each of your weapons.
You can choose one weapon to imbue with a +1 bonus. If you choose to forgo this, they would just gift you 1000 gp instead.
So being that everyone is itching to get back into the statue-cursed area, I'm going to end our "fast forward" today.
We're back to "normal" time.
--Odebie has been aiding the rebuilding of the Slums - most elens have been relocated to relative's houses or Temple-built community housing.
--Fi has been almost exclusively taking care of Enzo and Karina. After the festival, they seem a bit more themselves. Karina returns to the v'Ricci household, but asks Fi to stop by later on (current day)
--Byron's experiment concluded yesterday - it is now (current day)
--Osric has been talking with the Temple, and keeping an eye out for Gasper activity.
For the sake of convenience, let's assume that (current day) is the day you all agreed to meet up and see if the curse has faded a bit more.
One last item from the week:
Inquisitor Ky La gave Osric a bag of platinum - your hero's reward (this is in addition to the enchanted weapon, and this doesn't affect the Watch getting some money soon too)
You all have 200 platinum pieces now:
The coins are small and triangle-shaped. They are a lustrous silver-white, and the three points have a reddish sheen to them.
Byron has the worst luck with skill checks sometimes. XD
By the way, he did get the light crossbow he picked up enchanted.
Thanks for letting me know.
Odebie, here is the response from your father:
The letter arrives on a crude but sturdy piece of parchment, sealed with the sign of the Gray Father. The writing, as well you know, is done in a Scribe's hand, one of the few who learn to read and write from an early age, but your father's voice comes through loud and clear.
"
My Son,
May He Who Stands Firm bless you and your fellow soldiers. All is well here. The herd that our extended family is now hunting is proving to be a worthy challenge, and very good eating. The Gray Father provides...
I thought for a long time about your inquiries. The second question is the easier to answer. From the stories I have heard from our Tribe's experiences with the Temple, it is always better to agree with them in person, and then follow your own advice when they are gone. You likely have some measure of protection with your soldier friends. Do what they ask of you, as long as it does not go against your principles, and then be brown against the bark. Do not be too smart, too strong, or too questioning in front of them.
As for the first question, I consulted some of my brethren in nearby families, and came upon an interesting story:
The Temple has always taught that Volcano destroyed or banished the efreets because he betrayed them, but they have never been forthcoming with the nature of that betrayal. Priest Tuhnto shared with me a tale that, among other things, described the events surrounding the fall of the efreets.
In the Second Age, after Volcano had thwarted the attempt of Sky and Forest to cover all the land in trees and canopy, the fire-god was angry. He saw all the wonders that Sky offered the sylphs: the art of alchemy was just beginning to take shape in those days. He ordered the efreets to slaughter every single sylph in the land while Sky was still recovering from Volcano's attack. The capricious efreets refused, for they loved the beautiful brass machines the sylphs created and gifted to the efreets as thanks for the fires of the forge.
Instantly, Volcano erupted in a fit of rage, shattering rubies and spewing ash all across the land.
I have heard nothing else in our stories relating to efreets. The Eastern Tribe may have access to more, but it would be unwise to approach them with the way things are currently. Perhaps you will grace your family with a visit during Summer Meet. It would make your mother happy.
--Priest Obedie of the North Tribe
Interesting...
You get a funny feeling, a childhood memory. You recall you and your brother sitting on your mother's lap; she is reading a fey tale from a crackling book with yellow pages. A pair of sylphs go wandering in the forest late at night, and are driven mad by a creature's luminescent grin.
You remember the illustration for the story - a small, wrinkled creature with a huge round head, glowing circular eyes...
...and a white smile.
...When is the last time Byron rolled double digits on a d20? XD
For a trained skill....maybe never?
Sadly I think this is true. XD
Osric is good at aiding, so you get +4 instead of +2, so that's something anyway.
I'm curious with Osric being such an "aid-based" character - do you see him tweaking and helping in a subtle way, or is it more of a 'get out of the way so I can help you" kind of thing?
More of the former than the latter. My thinking was that he notices small minutiae in any given scenario and tips the scales just a little bit extra than normal. He is far more motivated by results than credit or reputation, so in his opinion it's often far better for someone to not even notice he's helping.
Could I pour a bomb on the arms instead of throwing one?
Ah...nah. Bombs explode.
Edit: If you want to just "drop" the bomb in your square, that's fine. It will still explode though.
That might be reasonable, given your fire resistance.
Oh, yeah, of course, fire resistance. I forgot I had that... XD
Sorry folks! For some reason Paizo wasn't telling me there were new posts here.
Edit: Wow. Maybe I just shouldn't've posted...
Odebie, I know you missed, but out of curiosity where is the +16 to damage coming from?
In your def stance you are at +6 str, so +6 (and another +3 from two handed) and +1 from magic weapon = 10. Let me know if I'm missing something.
Power Attack.
Gotcha, thanks.
Sorry about that Odebie. I feel like your double 1s are my fault because of my double 20s. How sure are we this RNG isn't sentient?
It certainly doesn't seem to like Byron's skill rolls.
I can't tell, if I threw an ice bomb at the cloud, would there be a square I could target that would hit it but not any of my allies?
You can throw it in between Osric and Ky La and it would only hit the cloud, but then it would only be splash damage. If you want to the cloud with the full damage, then Odebie would take the splash.
Sorry, I forgot to move myself on the map. I took a five foot step to an inconvenient position for you, though it seems like you already decided to heal up this round.
Leoni's body was found in the wreckage of Mister's HQ. It is simple to tell that he was slowly killed by fire elementals - a generous interpretation might be that he held off a potential flanking maneuver by the mutants to the north and elementals to the south, but that is impossible to know.
You do not hear anything about Lara.
Maybe we don't mention desecrating the holy place in front of the inquisitor.
Well, a "holy" efreet place is roughly equivalent to something that would be "holy" to a devil or a demon in another setting, so unless he's about to reveal himself as an efreet worshipper I think you'll be alright :)
I'll be at relatives for the holidays, feel free to bot me if I'm slowing things down.
Thanks for letting me know.
Out of curiosity, how unavailable is everyone going to be over the next several days? If most of us are going to be too busy, we'll just call a hiatus until Sunday or so.
I'll be available enough to post most days... probably.
I should be fine, I've had a crap weekend from various issues, but we don't do Thanksgiving over here.
I'm actually going to be out of town until Saturday. Feel free to bot me.
Rejoice! New update: "Minor Guilds" under the "Society" tab on the Campaign Info. Includes the
The Illuminator’s Guild
The Furrower’s Guil
The Rheologist’s Guild
The Whisperer’s Guild
The Condottieri
Heading home today, back to a regular posting schedule starting tonight.
I'm trying to remember, did I say whether or not Byron was carrying the sample of white obsidian with him?
I do not believe you stated it. You can burn an inspiration to "remember" you, of course, packed it along on a dangerous trip for just such an occasion.
Ah, excellent. Thank you, I'll do just that.
Under "Biomes", I am adding:
Ngaphansi Kokungcola (Under Dirt)
consists of the vast tracts of dirt and soil that lie under much of Volcano’s land. There are other creatures that live directly in the dirt, as oreads can. There is also a system of caves throughout the dirt tracts, which acts as home for strange cave-dwelling species.
Well... a two and a one.
That's not good.