Glad to see you back, Khaladon; hope everything's okay. Dayn shot a guy and has double-moved twice since then, trying to get in position to shoot another. :)
Apologies for the absenteeism, holiday evenings are basically consisting of me welded to the couch with an eight month old on my chest and I've not been able to wrangle posting time until late at night (generally past midnight). Normal service will resume in three-ish days once I'm back at home base.
Apologies, gentlemen; it's been nuts here today: my usual busy Monday, plus it was my mom's birthday and my 6-year-old's basketball practice got switched from tomorrow night to tonight at the last minute. Will post in a couple of hours when the kids are in bed.
Actually Joana, isn't 18 a +4? Wouldn't that mean that Tendal can have Abyssal, Draconic, Giant, Undercommon per intelligence bonus and then Varisian from his linguistics?
Yes, absolutely. I still had Goblin listed as a starting language (I have all your characters in Hero Lab for ease of botting), but you must have already switched it out for Varisian. All five languages are fine, and I will go post you a translation in the game thread right now.
It's been a busy week, and I've just been able to stay on top of my IC threads. Finally found a bit of time tonight for some housekeeping.
First, as I'm sure will come as a surprise to absolutely no one at this point, Wander Weir won't be rejoining us. He's been missing from the boards entirely since his last post here, and I got a PM from him this week that his RL circumstances got to be overwhelming. I'm sorry to see him go but appreciate that he had the courtesy to let me know what was going on rather than simply disappearing on us. Unless we are unfortunate enough to lose another player, I don't intend to replace him. Five is honestly my ideal party size in the first place.
Second, yay, we got through our first combat encounter. If anyone has any feedback to improve future encounters, I'd be pleased to hear it. I think the obvious missing piece was an initiative listing in every DM post so people can see whose turn is coming up next, although that might be more useful in a more straightforward encounter with fewer participants than this one had. We ended up with so many readies and delays and such that the order ended up pretty fluid anyway.
Will update the IC thread tomorrow; I believe Mark's supposed to be through with his travels so I'm waiting a bit on what's going on with Thuvalia and Phillip before getting everyone back on roughly the same timeline.
Finally back, though work gifted me with six hours of meetings today... and Sydney going from 43 to 25 degrees C over two days gifted our little ones with colds as well. Holiday was enjoyable, though always partially happy to be back home.
A bit sad to see Wander go, but at least its at a stage when exit stage left works well enough. No problems with a group of five from me.
You did well Joana, but as you say a semi regular string to show initiative order can help keep things in order.
A bit sad to see Wander go
I as well, as he's an excellent player. :( I have no plans to kill Sarien off bloodily, so if he finds himself able and interested to rejoin us down the road, he'd be welcome; I'd have no problem with writing him back into the story.
Just wanted to do a check-in to ensure again that there's no hard feelings anywhere. Dayn can't stand Tendal but I personally love the way you play him ZetaG, and they way they play off each other. If at anytime though I go overboard with the rivalry and animosity, please just let me know and I'll be happy to dial it down.
Dude. Seriously, you are playing Daynadrian quite appropriately. He and Tendal are going to get on one another's nerves all the time. Tendal sees Daynadrian as a hottempered hayseed, and Daynadrian sees Tendal as an effete wastrel snob.
What is not to love about this?
The trick for us is to be keeping the harping, annoyance and loathing below the violence level. I think since both characters are reasonably honorable, we should be able to avoid that though.
What books would you recommend for reading up more on Varisian culture? Would the new Varisian source book be worth it? I don't have a lot of the older Pathfinder publications, so I'm not sure which ones might be best to check out.
Varisia: Birthplace of Legends is, in my opinion, a very well-done book, but quite honestly a lot of the time I'm just kind of making stuff up as I go along and you should feel free to do so as well. While there's a two-page spread on Varisians in it, there's really nothing that goes earthshatteringly farther than the article in either the old or new Campaign Setting hardcovers or, for that matter, the Pathfinder Wiki article.
If you really want to spend some money, Varisia: Birthplace of Legends is probably one of the best of the Player Companion line, but if you don't have the Inner Sea World Guide and want a PDF, I'd get that one first. It has entries on Varisians and Varisia plus many other parts of Golarion for only $2 more than the PDF of the smaller book. Neither one is going to have the collected folktales of Vili Vittiri because I just made him up. :) Malkith is your PC, and it's his heritage; he's the expert, just like Phil's our go-to guy on halfling culture, Dayn is on elves, Braddon is on Chelaxians, and Tendal is on effete Magnimarian snobs. Whatever you want to throw in that doesn't flat-out contradict the basics from the Wiki page, just do it and I'll run with it.
2 gold cashed to chips to start
2.3 at the end of skiffs
3 sp spent on drinks
So I'm up 11.21 gold on the evening... I think
And you said crime doesn't pay! All these chumps who risked their lives and ruined their boots are only up 2 gp. ;)
Indeed - Phillip seems to have done quite well for himself on the surface of things. I've got a few ideas of what he might try and leverage out of the meeting with Saul as well... see if he can't get himself just a bit more established ;)
As to Varisian books - I'd second the Inner Sea World Guide. If you don't have anything get that first as it has a huge volume of stuff on everything and is great value as a PDF only purchase. Or you could just do a wiki search on Gypsies and the Romany in real world earth.
C'mon Larur... you know you want to leave all of the valuable recovered jewelery with the shifty Sczarni halfling that you only just met :P He's totally trustworthy!
I've been eying the Varisia: Birthplace of Legends book for a while now, so perhaps I will pick that up. I realize we're making stuff up on the fly here too, but I'd like to get a better idea of what is canon for my own education and so as to not accidentally contradict it.
Not a problem. Weekends are bonus time: If the story can advance a bit without leaving anyone behind, it'll do so, but I don't expect people to post on weekends. I certainly won't bot anyone or move on without their input over a weekend.
the loreweaver, I was just looking up the Harrow deck rules again for Malkith's reading when I noticed there's an 8-page write-up on Varisians as one of the support articles in Pathfinder #7, Edge of Anarchy. I'll take a look at it tonight, but it appears to be very specifically about Varisian caravan lifestyle where the Varisia Player Companion is less focused; it might be more what you're looking for in regards to flavor and background info.
Dude. Seriously, you are playing Daynadrian quite appropriately. He and Tendal are going to get on one another's nerves all the time. Tendal sees Daynadrian as a hottempered hayseed, and Daynadrian sees Tendal as an effete wastrel snob.
What is not to love about this?
The trick for us is to be keeping the harping, annoyance and loathing below the violence level. I think since both characters are reasonably honorable, we should be able to avoid that though.
Haha! Meant to reply my thanks to this. Nice vid ;)
And ya, I think we got it.
the loreweaver, I've had a busy week and haven't quite finished reading it yet, but I'd definitely recommend Pathfinder #7 as the go-to resource on Varisian culture. It goes into much greater detail than I've read anywhere else on the ethnicity. It discusses the various dances Varisians perform, different origin-myths for their people, the Sczarni, even what connotations they assign to clothing of different colors. (The fact that Samaritha is pictured in green is more significant to me now. ;)
It's a shame it's one article out of a book the rest of which would most likely be of little use to you (unless you decide to run Curse of the Crimson Throne). I can pull out some of the interesting tidbits and PM a summary to you, if you like.
Thanks for the heads up. As luck would have it, I actually own the Curse of the Crimson Throne AP, and think I recall seeing the article that you mention. Of course, I breezed over it at the time as I explored that issue, but now I think I'm going to have to take some time to actually read it.
Excellent! I'll be looking to incorporate some of the flavor from the article now that I'm aware of it as well.
At the point that Malkith made his ominous pronouncement, Saul was over by the cashier's cage handling payroll issues. Last he knew, Thuvalia was still at the bar. He's assuming that whatever's going on with the info from the captive, you guys have it taken care of and will let him know what you find out; he's pretty hands-off like that. :)
Ok cool. Thanks
It feels like we should get the Thuvalia interrogation settled before moving on to terms of employment. If you guys aren't going to find her trustworthy, you probably don't want to discuss business in front of her.
The question on the table at the moment is whether to accept Thuvalia's offer, or make a counter-offer, or turn her down flat. If you don't chime in by Mondayish, I'll treat it as an abstention. Would rather not be forced to give the NPCs a vote so don't be shy! Have an opinion! :)
You should give the NPCs a vote.
Half of mine usually say yes, and the other half usually say no.
If there's an odd number, one of the NPCs will usually abstain or follow the PCs lead. :-)
Well, that's Braddon for making a deal with Thuvalia, and Malkith and Tendal against it. Phillip appears to be abstaining for now. I'd like to hear from Daynadrian on the matter, but Khaladon doesn't appear to have been around over the weekend. Will give him a little more time to check in.
Phil is most definitely abstaining from this decision.
I've been meaning to say it for a wee while Joana - but have finally gotten round to it. I'd just like to say thanks so far - you're doing a sterling job of weaving multiple NPCs in and out of the action, providing each of us with our own touchpoints and storylines and giving us an all around great RP and gaming experience.
So to you I give a round of applause and raise an imaginary glass for an imaginary cheers to many more imaginary adventures to come!
I'm glad you're enjoying playing it; I'm having a great time running it! I love NPCs. My favorite part of DMing is playing the 'cast of thousands.' And I think PbP is excellent for allowing each PC to be the main character of his own plotline, as no one has to sit around and wait while another character has his time in the spotlight. Everyone can be important simultaneously, and no one has to get stuck playing the 'bit part' unless they choose to. :)
Ditto.
I concur. This is going fabulously thanks to a stellar GM (and some great PCs).
Will post tomorrow!
Looks like the loreweaver is probably in the middle of the big blizzard in the Northeast; hope all's well with him.
Khaladon, I saw you posting in Barcas's game today, so I know you're around. ;P
Posting now!
Yay, Saul gets to tell his story! Let me wrap up Samaritha, and I'm going to go out on a limb and presume that Malkith will accept Saul's offer as well. Feel free to apply some retroactive negotiations and/or conditions if you like when you get a chance to check in, the loreweaver.
Was out of town on Thursday for business and busy Friday catching up at work. The blizzard wasn't such a big deal for us. Just several inches of the fluffy white stuff - nothing I haven't seen before living in upstate New York. I can't say how the rest of the Northeast fared, though.
Good to hear you've not been inconvenienced by the weather.
Mark, will get you particulars about Phil's room tomorrow.
I've put a list of the loot from the first encounter on the Campaign Info page. Debated a bit about whether to put it there or in this thread, but it's easier to find over there. Nothing too exciting (hey, it's first level), but you guys can claim what you want and decide if anything's worth selling.
No problems Joana :)
As to the loot, Phil doesn't know about it and was not engaged in it's retrieval. Therefore he shall have none of it.
Not offering to share his windfall either, is he? ;)
Which reminds me, everyone can add their first week's pay to their pocket: 10 gp each. Braddon, Dayn, and Malkith got an extra 2 gp as the wage for their night's work.
Now that you're all on the payroll, we'll say everything less than 1 gp comes out of petty cash, which should cover ferry tolls and incidental drinks around town and the like.
The unidentified items in the loot list can be identified with Knowledge (arcana) 25 or Craft (alchemy) 20; alternatively, you could take the substances to an alchemist to be identified. You guys have already made an educated guess as to what the clay spheres do, having seen one in action. Once you've decided what, if anything, you'd like to keep for yourselves, the other stuff can be easily sold at half-price.
Since the inventory and dispersion of the loot is being done in the background, I figured identification could be done there as well:
4 clay spheres (unidentified)
1 envelope powder (unidentified)
Architectural Digest is up. :P Everyone else's room is constructed similarly to Phil's, save for the small, high window in the rooms off the hall, so if you're in doubt about a feature, check his description.
Fyi, as there isn't a mechanism (that I'm aware of, anyway) for identifying alchemical items (and point me to it if I'm missing it), I'm using this guidance from James Jacobs. I set the DC higher for Knowledge (arcana) since alchemy is related but not really magic in the classical sense, although I could be persuaded to use the same DC for both if you care to present a reasonable argument for it. It's definitely not a Spellcraft roll, as there's no magic aura to detect. If no one can make the checks (and I know no one in this group has Craft (alchemy)), it would be a simple matter to find a local alchemist to tell you what it is while you're out and about town tomorrow.
Braddon will take what the others let him take. If no one stops him, he'll take the masterwork short sword, the light crossbow and bolts, a sap and two daggers. The only thing he may really need is the crossbow, since he has no ranged weapons yet except dagger. Masterwork short sword would be great for two weapon fighting, but I don't get that till next level and who knows what we'll have by then. If anyone else is interested in the crossbow or short sword, it's yours. Braddon is pretty effective without them at the moment. :-)
Keeping the potion for an emergency first aid kit, I presume? The nice thing about having a home base is that you can keep excess stuff that might come in handy sometime without carrying it around with you all the time. Of course, if you need the potion and don't have it with you.... :)
Looks like everyone's ready to move on to the next day; I'm still waiting to hear back from Daynadrian about something. It's probably about 2 AM; I presume that Tendal is going to rest 8 hours for spell preparation purposes? Everyone else planning on getting up at a normal dawnish breakfast-y hour?
Pfft - you can only keep your stuff there if you trust the establishment not to thieve you blind :P
Phil is going to need to see a carpenter about some custom furniture ;)
And yep - Phil would be up for a breakfast-y hour.
Sorry won't be able to post till tomorrow, but basically he's going to finish up his convo, find Saul and have a little chat and see if he can change some current situations then head to bed. I mean sleep .
Thanks for the info, Khaladon. With that in mind, I'll go ahead and start narrating the next morning with the presumption that that's happened and that you'll retcon it in when you post tomorrow. My daughter has basketball practice tonight that I'm about to have to leave the house for, but I'll try to get the next day underway for the early risers within the next several hours.
Alternatively, if you wanted, you could reallocate your favored class bonus from hp to a skill point and keep both trained. Let me know if you'd prefer to do that.