Way of the Wicked (Inactive)

Game Master Aku Warashi

Applause!

No internet at home. Im going to sleep. Ill post later.

Rest well!

How's this sound...

Once all the valuables are stowed, the group makes their way back out of the tower and into the court yard. They stride to the main gate. Covered in grime and sweat and blood, they look like they have stepped out of the last pages of a playwright's tragedy.

The few remaining guards on the prison wall regard them with fear and confusion. Where were their brothers in arms? Where were their officers to give them direction and strength? Suddenly their bows and swords seemed dull and puny in their hands. Their armor and their faith seemed flimsy shields against the butchers below, and they shrank back behind the parapets.

One of those men below steps forward and casually tosses the severed head of the warden into the dirt at the foot of the prison gate. Grey hair is matted and stained red. Your warden is dead. Your sergeant is dead. Every soul in the keep is dead. Some of them died screaming, some begging. Some cried, some tried to run. But in the end they all died. He pauses, the gazes of his comrades sweep the wall like seeking beams.

Lower the gate. Now. Moments pass. The silence became an oppressive thing that was broken by the sound of the gate raising. The speaker's lips curl in a cruel grin and he raises his voice one last time. And so you choose life. Mitra weeps.

And with those cryptic words, the Butchers of Branderscar disappear into the encroaching gloom of twilight - the rolling mists of the moors swallowing them for what the survivors hoped was forever

*Slow clap* Very well written.

I love it, very well done.

Hey, DM Aku, going back to magic item crafting for a minute, the rules say that you can only create 1 magic item in a day and that if a scroll or potion would cost up to 250 gp that it only takes 2 (instead of 8) hours for you to craft it.

In the past my groups have always house-ruled that with potions and scrolls, you could craft more than one but no more than your normal gp / time allotment in a day. So a normal caster could craft 4 cheap scrolls or potions in a day, or 2 while adventuring (because you can only work 4 hours instead of 8).

What are your thoughts on this?

@Nahia, I'll look into it with more time later.

As promissed, let me post the findings here:

Loot:

The guards have the usual stuff.
Gear: chain shirt, heavy steel shield, longsword, leather club,
longbow with 20 arrows

Sergeant:

Combat Gear: potion of cure light wounds
Other Gear: chainmail, masterwork longsword, sergeant’s
uniform, 30 gp, key ring

Warden:

Combat Gear: potion of cure light wounds, scrolls of magic missile,
sleep, hideous laughter and invisibility
Other Gear: dagger, wizard’s college class ring (gold with diamonds worth 250 gp), ioun torch

The other findings in the chests i'll post later. I don't have the complete list here. I left at work.

Findings in the fort:

15. Sergeant’s Quarters

under Blackerly’s bed is an iron strong box
with a good lock (DC 30; the key is on Tomas’ ring). Inside that box is a case of rotgut whiskey (a dozen bottles
worth 5 gp a bottle) and 1235 gp. This is the lion share of
the money that Tomas Blackerly has stolen from the prison treasury (or at least what he hasn’t yet spent). It takes
no roll of any sort to realize this is a larcenously huge
amount of money to be possessed by a common sergeant.

in his wardrobe has a flask
of rotgut whiskey mixed with sleep-inducing herbs

21. Hall of History
This entire floor is dedicated to the history of the
Castle Branding and the subsequent history that led the
castle to become Branderscar Prison. It consists of a series of mostly uninteresting plaques that tell of nobles
and deeds hardly anyone remembers anymore. There
are a number of banners and flags.
One of the wall hangings is an old brocade tapestry
that depicts Castle Branding being turned into a prison
with the motto “His Judgment Cometh and that Right
Soon”. The tapestry is worth 150 gp. It is however very
heavy (50 lb.) and awkward (-2 to any Acrobatics, Climb,
Jump, or Swim skill checks while carried).

22. Richter’s Library
This is the warden’s pride and joy – a large collection of books and scrolls across a wide range of subjects.
The most common items in the library are the “penny
dreadfuls”. These poorly printed compilations of lurid
tales range across the whole gamut of adventure genres.
However, the one genre over-represented is bawdy tales
featuring amply endowed young maidens in grave peril.
This collection is of no real value.
In the more scholarly section, there are fifty five books
on subjects ranging from magical theory, history and
astronomy. Fifty two of these are common books and
tomes worth an average of 3 gp and each weighing a
pound. However, three of them are very valuable:
“Astra Mysterii” A rare treatise on astrology written
by the mad monk Clivarus, worth 75 gp.
“The Travels of Titus the Mendicant” by Artus Vellor.
A valuable first edition of a popular title published before
the author was well known, this book would fetch 120
gp amongst collectors.

“The Floralegium” by Branthus Hart. An imposing
tome of no small age, this beautifully illustrated book of
flowers is obviously something special. It is worth 250 gp to collectors.

24. Warden’s Office
This is the Warden’s office. Tastefully adorned in hard
wood, the office is dominated by a massive oak desk.
Inside the Warden’s desk is a neatly folded map of the
surrounding area. The map shows the quickest route
through the moors. It also shows Old Moor Road – their
destination.
The desk has one locked drawer. Inside is the warden’s spellbook.

Richter’s Tome of Arcane Armament
This beautiful book is made of fine cerulean leather embossed with
gold leaf. Its edges are reinforced with brass fittings and strange
arcane symbols adorn its covered. It bears the draconic rune of “R”
in the center of its front cover.
Value 350 gp
Blank Pages 63
SPELLS
2nd– bull’s strength, flaming sphere, hideous laughter, invisibility
1st– alarm, charm person, expeditious retreat, feather fall, mage
armor, magic missile, mount, shield, sleep
0th– all cantrips in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook

25. Warden’s Private Chambers
This is the warden’s well-appointed private bed chambers. There is a fine four poster bed, a full length mirror
and an oaken wardrobe. Though the furniture here is of
high quality, there is no easy way to get it out.

More portable is the Warden’s wardrobe including no
less than five noble outfits (worth 375 gp in total). This
collection of noble finery is mostly elegant silk robes and
could fit most anyone.
There is also a sturdy oak
chest pushed into one corner of the Warden’s private
chambers. Richter has long
been meaning to learn a
little alchemy and this chest
contains his latest purchase.
It is a well packed alchemist’s
lab (worth 200 gp; weighing 40
lbs.).

Just one question: How you guys are going to deal with the loot-keeping?

Ooooooo! I will take a handful of the penny dreadfulls, a couple of smaller books on magic, and the book on flowers.

I'll roll appraise on the other two:
Appraise 1: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22 - Ok, this is probably good enough, so I'll take the astrology book too.
Appraise 1: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15 - If this is good enough I'll grab this as well.

And nobles clothes! Probably not well cut for a woman, but it's better than the wet commoners clothes I'm wearing now. I'll take a fine silk robe please!

Also, some rations from the kitchen. And a bottle of whisky.

And if no one else wants them I'll take the scrolls.

I'll carry my portion of some of the other stuff (coins) but my carrying capacity is crap.

I'd comment about Grumblejack but (assuming we're still doing this) he'll probably need to carry Kenny.

Just one more thing:

About the Cinematic, I borrowed from a player in the other table.

Johan is his name. My english vocabulary is limited, so It's hard for me write like that(I can do it very well in portuguese).

I passed to him what you wrote about the description. :)

You do well for English as a second language (better than my second language for sure). But yes, Johan did a great job.

Adanna some other suggestions possibly:

I would assume you would take the spellbook as well, no other arcane casters in group so it might be worthwhile once you can get a familiar to be able to teach it some spells?

Rezzed familiar rules: it can only knows two first level spells when you do get it back (plus it takes 500gp/level so that you can do the ritual to get it back, so going to be at least 500gp, possibly 1000gp if we level'd leaving the prison, may take most of the sergeants earnings to get you up to full operation).

Seren: Seren will take one of the noble outfits for sure, as well as the cure potion off of the sergeant, which she'll take immediately. Cure: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5, She will also take the Wizard's ring off his finger and place it on her own.

Can't use any of the scrolls so she won't take any of them.

Will take alchemist lab as well if no one wants it, should be able to carry it and stay under capacity but it'll be close.

As for the gold we could split evenly after giving Adanna 1000gp to get her familiar back (unless we are still level 1 when she has the necessary 8 hours to do ritual.) Gives everyone 44gp by my quick math. If adanna only needs 500gp then everyone would get an extra 83gp, with lyza and marsella running away with a portion of our winnings.

Adanna familiar is waiting for her, in the moors. Don't worry about expending money with it. :)

Technically, my familiar can't learn from a spellbook. Though if no one else did I was going to take it to sell off. I could, potentially, use the scrolls but the only one on my list is sleep, which is already on my learned list.

I hadn't brought it up yet (I was wanting to see if we lived first) but I'm hoping I can avoid having to pay for it, since you don't have to pay for it when you initially get it. Although it comes off very odd for a Witch, a Wizard could have easily said "I didn't bond to a familiar yet" and then get one after the prison. Again, this is odd for a Witch cause otherwise I couldn't have started with spells if I didn't have one before.

For RP purposes, in my backstory, my familiar hid and ran, and I'm hoping to be reunited with it. That said, if I do have to pay for it, I'm perfectly willing to do that with a ritual to "let him locate me".

Similarly, I would hope I wouldn't have to miss my starting bonus spells due to int. While it is true that a Wizard would miss out on that, looking at the Wardens spellbook, that is a nice starting book for a Wizard.

Edit: Well, that's what I get for taking a phone call before hitting post. Thanks DM Aku. Also, Yay Andros!

Lysa will also grab a fine robe, wearing it over her chain shirt (from the guards). She'll sling a shield and the lute over her back. She'll also grab the following:

• what she needs to carry of the coins
  
• Some rations
  
• A few of the nicer books
  
• A bottle of the whisky
  
• The bottle of sleepy time whisky
  
• A spare nobles outfit, if they aren't all claimed
  
• The engagement ring (if Marsella doesn't grab it)
  
• The Mitra holy symbol

- - - - -
Also, since we're probably going to be slowed down and encumbered anyway, I'll grab some more stuff to carry, if necessary. The only specific thing of note, is that if no one else wants it, Adanna will grab the pipe and tobacco.

If I'm already going to be encumbered, I'll take some of the alchemy lab components (say 5 lbs worth) to help distribute the weight (and since I'll be using it to craft us potions next level).

And since I don't need to pay for the familiar, if we give Grumblejack a cut, it's ~176 gold each. If we don't give Grumblejack a cut, it's 205 each and I'll give Grumblejack half of my share so he doesn't eat me (yet). : )

I think we can give a second potion of cure light wounds to Grumblejack, he will be very low on HP. Unless someone wants something I say we sell everything and do a split of the gold.

Zerik will keep the composite bow, greatsword and armour he is wearing, one pair of noble clothing, 50 feet of rope, rations, a quarrel of arrows.

I understand that Eric will keep the masterwork longsowrd, the reach weapon, chainmail.

We should probably keep the noble clothing as that may come in handy and the book on astrology.

My bad on spellbook Adanna missed that about witches.

Seren got hit by a firesphere to the face last combat, and then had to give up her potion to get grumblejack on his feet, she is totally going to drink the other one to get to a reasonable amount of hitpoints.

You got 4 potions in this part of the game.

1 on the bed, inside the barracs.
1 from de veil.
1 from the sergeant.
1 from the wizard.

The 1 from the barracks was consumed before the fight, the one from the veil went to Grumblejack, Seren consumed the one from the wizard. So that leaves us with 1. Grumblejack is on low health so if we get into another fight I say give him another potion.

We could always save it in case someone goes unconscious again, though I do understand that might be kind of risky.

I almost forgot about Kennie. Are we taking him with us?

-Posted with Wayfinder

Seren would vote no, grumblejack was a great pickup already, and she would see little reason in keeping a hostage of the prison after such a thorough execution of most of it's guards. She couldn't see the prison coming after us anytime soon, and Kennie would seem to be more of a liability and risk then benefit at this point.

I'm waiting for Eric to post, so we can continue.

@Eric, don't worry, you are not slowing us down. I just want to give you a chance to talk about your possible new found patron. :D

I don’t know if I’ll be able to post today.
I’m going to visit my mother and take her to the theater. I left my notebook at home before going to work, and I’ll not be able to get it. But hopefully I’ll be back tomorrow.

For Kenny, I think it could still be fun to convert him, but I also agree that, considering everything else, it probably isn't a good idea to drag him along.

Yeah, best just to leave him.

Enjoy the theater Aku!

I can do this part using my phone. ;D

Then you have more patience for phone typing than I do. : /

Now Im trully off. Cya

I'm dead tired. I'm off again. Cya tomorrow.

Rest Well!

Makeover time! Given how this is probably going to play out with us meeting the "master", I'll probably end up dropping the "Adanna" alias soon and giving out my real name. To signify the rest, new clothes, and our escape, I'm changing my avatar.

Also, DM Aku, it appears that my familiar has the highest perception in the party (+9, barely eeking out Zeriks +8). Though it has no ability to speak, I do share an emotional link with it. How do you want to handle this?

Hmm, it looks like we lost a couple of posts in the server chaos. I still have the old window up so I'll copy and paste them back.

----- DM Aku -----
@Nahia I liked the new avatar. About the perception, you'll in that case, know that your familiar saw something and the direction. But no more details, since he can't speak. (I'll do some research on this.)

----- Nahia -----
@DM Aku, Thanks!

Well, it's just empathetic, so only emotions. I figured if he picks something up and it would make him fearful or concerned that I would pick up on that and it might let us know to look harder, but wouldn't give some kind of warning in the case of anything like a surprise round.

He does understand common, so I might be able to ask him questions and get answers in the form of gestures (like if he sees something small in a crevice he could point it out or go get it) but that's about it.

Humm. Has Eric disappeared too? :(

I certainly hope not.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Some serious things:

I really enjoy this Game and I dont want to end it. That beeing said, I've sent for Eric an PM. I do not mind if you guys are not able to post for some days, but you should tell me that you'll not be able to post. So I can DMPC your char while you are away.
Anyway, if he did not replay until tomorrow, I'll reopen the Recruitment thread for three days, looking for another melee fighter for our group. After those days, I'll pick up the candidates and let you guys choose who do you want to play with.

In this case, I'll put a pause in the game while this recruitment goes, because there's a part just ahead where you guys are, that need to have a full party.

Other than that, I just want to tell you guys one more thing: Welcome to level 2. You can update your crunch. Just post to me all the new things you get. :)

I do apologize for not being able to post. My weekends tend to be very busy (primary project atm: renovating room for 1st baby). Please feel free to DMPC Eric during the weekends. However, if you would prefer to have Eric replaced, I'll understand. This is a great group with what appears to be a good campaign; I'd hate to ruin that. I'll try to keep up during the weeks as best as I can.

Definitely don't want you replaced. We were just worried you disappeared like the others. Good to have you back.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Also glad to have you back Eric! : )

DM Aku, are we rolling for HP at each level or doing it like PFS (or something else)?

Rolling for hp.

Thanks guys!

HP roll: 1d10 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11

Cool. I don't quite have time to post everything else yet but I'll roll for HP now: HP: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Welcome Back Big E.
Also. Marsella and.Lyza are.not in the room.

Besides class features (+1 BAB, +1 Fort/Will, unholy resilance, and touch of corruption), I have taken another rank in sense motive and intimidate as my 2 class skill points. For my 2 villian skill points, I am undecided at the moment. Will get back to you on those.

HP up by 5 to 12 (see roll above).
Base Attack up by 1 to 1.
Will save up by 1 to 5.

New Hex: Caldron (+4 bonus to Craft Alchemy and gain Brew Potion)
One additional 0 level spell per day (4 total)
One additional 1 level spell per day (3 total)
Two first level spells to add to familiar:
Identify
Sow Thought (Changeling racial spell, http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/s/sow-thought)
Patron Spell: Unnatural Lust (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/u/unnatural-lust)

8 Skill points (2 base, 3 int, 2 villain, 1 favored class bonus)
Skill: Ranks gained, ranks total, total bonus
Bluff: 1, 2, 12
Craft (Alchemy): 1, 2, 12
Diplomacy: 1, 2, 5
Knowledge (Arcana): 1, 1, 7
Knowledge (Nature): 1, 2, 8
Linguistics: 1, 1, 4 (Giant)
Perform (Dance): 1, 2, 5
Spellcraft: 1, 2, 8

Automatic rank in Appraise from Slave Trader Trait
Making ranks 2 and a total bonus of 8

HP: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10

Ranger Bonus feat @ lvl 2 - Archery (Rapid Shot)

Skills are 6+2+1 [Ranger+Evil+Favoured Class]

1. Acrobatics
2. Disable Device
3. Handle Animal
4. Heal
5. Knowledge Geography
6. Knowledge Dungeoneering
7. Perception
8. Survival
9. Stealth

HP: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

HP to 18 [12+6]
BAB +1
Will Save +1
+1/2 level to Undead Servitude Revelation

Skills are 4+3(int)+2(villian)=9

Bluff +1
Disguise +1
Intimidate +1
Knowledge Planes +1
Knowledge Religion +1
Stealth +1
Spellcraft +2
Perception +1

One new 0 level spell known - Mending
One new Mystery Spell - Cause Fear

One additional First level spell per day.

Sorry instead of handle animal I put the point into intimidate.

I'm off now. I'll be back later.

I'm offering my greatsword, longsword, 2 longbow that I gathered (not the composite though) and the other gear we collected, plus the gold we found is also divided. We can sell the jewelry and other items that we don't need and divide the loot.

Anyone have an idea of how much that comes to?