The Threefold Deaths of the Venerable Theseus

Game Master Mervikoth

I think we are getting a level up every 4-5 months so far, so we should be due for our next one in Jan-Feb.

This differs some from "Ire of the storm" which had mostly shorter gaps.

level 2 - less than a month
level 3 - 3 months
level 4 - 5 months
level 5 - 3.5 months
level 6 - less than a month.

My feeling is that 3-4 months for later levels is about right. Too much longer drags a bit but much shorter and it doesn't feel as earned. That's my 2 cents, but, I don't know if it even matters to anyone else. Also, I'm not sure anyone could even plan things that carefully anyway so it probably doesn't even matter.

sorry folks. I've dropped the ball the last couple weeks. between someone being sick, and work being actually busy, and the stress of leveling up 2 characters I didn't really plan out very well...

But Hopefully I'm back...

No worries! It's that time of year when we slow down a bit.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

agreed!

Happy Thanksgiving day + 1.

I just realized (re-remembered) that Brag's Ghoulbane Belt allows him to remove paralysis once per day. Should have used that a while back. I'll do better at remembering in the future.

Thanks for the update, Thurl. Good to know our flow of play is pretty consistent overall.

Thanks for the update, Thurl. Good to know our flow of play is pretty consistent overall.

Yeah, I consider that first level and the last one from Ire to be irregular. I think the first level will go quickly in most games and the last one was a arc finishing combat so you would expect to progress faster. It was interesting doing the research.

Also I just realized Arbaro and Lem were Diplomacy-ing in that room before Brag snuck in, so his sneaking would have been nullified. Whatever. No one responded to your attempts to talk anyway.

I fear broken knuckles for Thurl!

Yup, and I didn't even get through its DR...

Rolling 1s will do that, and I should know.

By the way GM, I saw someone else do something interesting to distinguish between enemies of the same type. In google slides, you can add a border around images and color code it so if you have 3 enemies, you can make them blue, yellow, and red or some such.

By the way GM, I saw someone else do something interesting to distinguish between enemies of the same type. In google slides, you can add a border around images and color code it so if you have 3 enemies, you can make them blue, yellow, and red or some such.

I like this.

Remind me next time. These two statues are now Yellow and Green.

Excellent idea! Thank you both!

Question that will become relevant (but not like in a kill-your-character type of way):

What is your PC's worst fear? Spiders, fire, heights, loneliness, a full moon, etc.

Unable to help, hurting those around him, Beholders, quicksand (probably regular sand too). Do any of those sound good? I haven't picked one but quicksand is growing on me as I type...

I think becoming a ghoul is up there based on his encounter with them earlier. Loss of control of himself, being controlled by baser urges. Anything from being charmed magically to being over weight and addicted to pies I think.

being unable to act (such as but not exclusively through fear/paralysis/bindings)

Brag no longer experience or has fear, not even the fear of fear itself. Ever since he hit 3rd level, the fear is gone. It has been cast out through the attainment and dedication of and to paladin living. That said, before gaining such enlightenment, Bragaleb did have some fears. As soon as he remembers what they were, he'll share that information.

Sorry, not feeling well. I’ll try to post tomorrow.

Three items of note:
1. Brag rolls perception and wisdom checks, not because I have a high chance of discovering anything, I don't (see -2), but to remind the rest of the party to check these things. And yet,
2. On this last wisdom check, Brag out wisdomed 'Url, who is, perhaps, the wisest person our party has ever known. That made me laugh.
3. Finally, the GM made a funny - see post 1354 for "I have become the Antitheseus!" This spiked my pun meter.

Brag no longer experience or has fear, not even the fear of fear itself. Ever since he hit 3rd level, the fear is gone. It has been cast out through the attainment and dedication of and to paladin living. That said, before gaining such enlightenment, Bragaleb did have some fears. As soon as he remembers what they were, he'll share that information.

I've decided. Brag used to fear being thought of as clueless as he is occasionally, okay often, clueless (see Wisdom = 7). Now he no longer fears what others think or how he is perceived.

Thank you. I arrived at that pun because of the obvious Antichrist comparison, and, well, it was too good to pass up.

Also what Brag is nicely saying is ROLL PERCEPTION YOU DOLTS, YOU HAVE A +21.

Funny, I first read it and pronounced it as "antithesis." I like your "obvious to those with +21 perception" idea better.

See, it’s always been unclear to me if how Perception should work. Should we roll it when ever we think it warranted? Should it be when the DM prompts us? What is it safe to ASSUME our characters are doing?

According to d20PFSRD:
Perception: Most Perception checks are reactive, made in response to observable stimulus. Intentionally searching for stimulus is a move action.

Can we retry a perception check? Yes. You can try to sense something you missed the first time, so long as the stimulus is still present.

My interpretation:
First, we can do a perception check at anytime we sense a stimulus or at the prompting of the GM. These stimuli could be nearly anything. We don't want to spend 60% of our time doing perception checks, of course. But we could do a few more than we are doing.

Second, we can retry a perception check if something re-triggers as a stimulus (e.g., a recurring sound, movement, etc.).

Third, what does the GM say?

When something new occurs that you haven't seen/smelled/touched before, you can freely roll Perception of your own volition. If you're in combat and are looking for a hidden mechanism/invisible monster, it's a move action. Or if you're doing a thorough search of a room after a combat, you'd roll a lot of Perception checks to scour every inch of a room. (I usually handwave over the time element of this last type of Perception).

You roll Perception whenever you think it is fitting. I would prompt you more, but I have enough to remember. This is me allowing you to roll it anytime you want to look for something. I'll only curb the rolls if you do them during combat (or they get wildly out of hand, which I doubt will happen). Basically, roll when you get in a new room, roll when you've killed all the baddies and can properly search.

Ya'll don't have a rogue so I really don't put too a ton of traps in places... but I do still have traps, don't worry.

Is there a hidden trap in the GM's perception comments?

Perception | GM Comments: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (19) - 2 = 17

Well that made me laugh, out-loud even.

BOOM!

my turn with the family flu, 2/4 confirmed with another feverish. Kassi has been spared so far fortunately.

my turn with the family flu, 2/4 confirmed with another feverish. Kassi has been spared so far fortunately.

That's no fun at all. Hope all are well soon.

So, gather the four missing relics, return them to their rightful places in the crypt (you've cleared 2/4 places already), and then Roccavisk will cast the spell to cure Kamalani's spirit. Doing so will take hours... as wave after wave of hellish enemies assault the Temple of Theseus.

Find:

Kill bad guys in crypt's rooms:
Theseus (DONE)
Perseus (DONE)
Heracles
Bellerophon

Defend the Temple vs. Waves of Enemies

I think I've added all the relevant details from the temple so far, except I can't find a name for the Prioress, were we given one? Also, DM, would you mind adding the pictures of the NPCs to the campaign tracker?

Apparently, in reviewing exposition we have been given so far, the minotaur acolyte is familiar with the local area quite well and should be able to guide us as we look for the relics.

Also, there are a couple monsters, one on one of the nearby Islands, and one out in the plains. Could be drawn to important bad mojo. We need more info on those monsters I think.

Prioress Mildburg. Pics in process of being added. The minotaur's purpose is to guide you around.

You need to check out:
The plains around the area.
Islands of the Goat, the Lion, and the Dragon.
Those lazy dragon hunters at the inn.
Maybe those cobbler halflings again?

I forgot about the color borders for the bad-guys on the map. I'll remember next attack.

I added them while I was posting round 3

UPDATE

So, gather the four missing relics, return them to their rightful places in the crypt, and then Roccavisk will cast the spell to cure Kamalani's spirit. Doing so will take hours... as wave after wave of hellish enemies assault the Temple of Theseus.

Find:

Kill bad guys in crypt's rooms:
Theseus (DONE)
Perseus (DONE)
Heracles (DONE)
Bellerophon (DONE)

Defend the Temple vs. Waves of Enemies

You need to check out:
The plains around the area.
Islands of the Goat, the Lion, and the Dragon.
Those lazy dragon hunters at the inn.
Maybe those cobbler halflings again?

Defend the Temple vs. Waves of Enemies

You need to check out:
The plains around the area.
Islands of the Goat, the Lion, and the Dragon.
Those lazy dragon hunters at the inn.
Maybe those cobbler halflings again?

Let's start at the bottom and work our way up.

sorry guys, busy weekend

I forgot that Dragon Hunters captured Dewayne in my back story, so Arbaro might just want to kill them all when we run into them. He hates Dragon Hunters, so that'll be interesting. Whoops! Bad player, no donut!

Thinking about it now, Arbaro trusts the party, he'll probably reveal the hatred before we go back into the bar, then attempt to persuade the party to humiliate the DHs or run them out of town.
Start thinking of plans now so our characters can discuss it when it comes up.

UPDATE

So, gather the four missing relics, return them to their rightful places in the crypt, and then Roccavisk will cast the spell to cure Kamalani's spirit. Doing so will take hours... as wave after wave of hellish enemies assault the Temple of Theseus.

Find:

Kill bad guys in crypt's rooms:
Theseus (DONE)
Perseus (DONE)
Heracles (DONE)
Bellerophon (DONE)

Defend the Temple vs. Waves of Enemies

You need to check out:
The plains around the area.
Islands of the Goat, the Lion, and the Dragon.
Those lazy dragon hunters at the inn.
Maybe those cobbler halflings again?

1500 posts since January of 2019. That's about 4 posts per day for over a year. Seems pretty good to me.

1500 posts since January of 2019. That's about 4 posts per day for over a year. Seems pretty good to me.

According to the Characters tab and my calculations, since the start of the campaign the four player characters have posted 1498 times, while the GM/Roccavisk has posted 1482 times. A nice even split. Here's the breakdown:

Lem - 300
Arbaro - 330
Thurl / Ithe - 415
Brag - 453
----------------
GM - 1428
Roccavisk - 54

It is also interesting to me that our posting rates tend to fit our characters' personalities.

Lem and Arbaro tend to want action more than words, while Thurl and Brag don't mind chatting about stuff.

Meta Update

By now you've likely guessed the overall structure of the campaign. You've explored ~2 full locations where a soul from the wreck of the Venerable Theseus has been on this plane (all of the Swaying Lantern, 1/2 of Chimera Cove, 1/2 of the ocean floor/giant sea creature's belly). There is a 4th location for the 4th individual (wizard tower on Rivenrake Island) that you have not explored yet... as well as a mysterious Final Location.

So what I'm saying is that you're about halfway through this campaign. You started at level 6. If you level up to 9 soon (how much XP left?), that will have been about 3 levels every 4 months. I predict this campaign will end in another full year, so around January 2021. If our progress holds steady we will just make it to level 12 for the final fight.

As always, I'm having a lot of fun playing this with you guys. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns or helpful criticism.

65,000 XP needed for level 9

Yeah, its a cool structure I think.

The entire ghoul encounter at Kir Sabal was pretty cool I thought. Ghouls are just so disgusting.

On Thurl-I didn't anticipate him being this ineffective in combat (by himself) but I've enjoyed playing a skills/support based character. I think a bard would have tickled that itch better though but that would be a very different character. The way he's built, it takes a while for his most effective abilities to reach their stride. I think I would prefer playing him in a higher level game.

@Thurl: The +2 "Thurl Enhancement" is really awesome and has saved us from significant damage/prolonged fights many times.

@Arbaro: I'd also like to see Arbaro upgrade is bow so that he can get a crit on 19 or 20. He's rolled several 19s.

@Party & GM: When we get to the end, we should have an in person gathering at my house to complete the quest. Bring your laptops and I'll provide the food and drinks.

@GM: We need more Roccavisk.

@Lem: It's hammer-time. Wipe the Cheeto dust off and swing away.

On the vein of Thurl. DM would you mind if I used Feats to get extra Ki powers? There are feats for extra Rage powers and such...

UPDATE

So, gather the four missing relics, return them to their rightful places in the crypt, and then Roccavisk will cast the spell to cure Kamalani's spirit. Doing so will take hours... as wave after wave of hellish enemies assault the Temple of Theseus.

Find:

Kill bad guys in crypt's rooms:
Theseus
Perseus
Heracles
Bellerophon

Defend the Temple vs. Waves of Enemies

You need to check out:
The plains around the area.
Islands of the Goat, the Lion, and the Dragon.
Those lazy dragon hunters at the inn.
Maybe those cobbler halflings again?