GM Abraham's Emerald Spire

Game Master Abraham Z.

No kidding. I do not like being totally ineffectual. Perhaps we could lure it to shallower water.

My apologies to everyone for the continuing slow play. My father's illness has accelerated and it's meant that there have been some days when I just can't focus on stuff very well. I still want to continue GM-ing this through to its conclusion (there are times when it's a very nice distraction from stuff in my personal life) but I understand that some of you may be frustrated. I thank you all for your understanding.

@Altovin
How about doing an aid another?> That is always a good fall back. Either to give Dasius a boost to his to hit or to help Shabah. Or use a wand of CLW on yourself or a Vigor on Shabah?

Unless you have a reason to not take an action?

Sorry, I thought the breathing rules were going to be worse and saw it is the score that you have for rounds of breathing. So I took an action.

Regarding the balloon, I'm thinking the issue is not whether it will carry Yanda's weight into the air, the issue is that is is not built to keep someone afloat. I envision it as a sphere with a handle. Two issues with that. One is that it would be nearly impossible to sit on top of it or get her arms around it so using it to stay afloat is problematic. The handle might help but it's not likely to remain in a useful location. The second is that it is built to withstand a gentle ascent through the air. Not sure it wouldn't just pop under the slightest aggravation.

I think the +2 is fair enough but I'm just saying you could have a lot of fun with Yanda trying to use a wiggly balloon with one handle that keeps trying to escape and head up towards the ceiling while she is dealing with a combat situation! Actually, we can. But you can throw in a few balloon handling rolls with my blessing to see if it escapes or something.

bump

Sorry everyone for the long delay. I will be on break for over two weeks starting Thursday and will be able to get us restarted then. Thanks for your patience and understanding. I know it's a bummer to be mid-fight and then have everything come to a halt.

Many thanks to all of you for your patience. I can imagine that it must have felt very frustrating to have the game grind to a halt like that. I'm ready to resume regular posting and have just updated the gameplay thread. I hope you are all doing ok with the coronavirus scare.

I'm sick, not sure if it's COVID but it's hit me hard. Will post when I can but I'm not able to right now. :(

's OK with me. Plenty of games to play while I wait :)

I'm sick, not sure if it's COVID but it's hit me hard. Will post when I can but I'm not able to right now. :(

I'm so sorry to hear this. Sending you good thoughts for swift and complete healing. May we all come through these trying times safe and sound.

If it's all right with you, I'll try to keep our game going by botting you, at least until we can wrap up this combat that has been going such a long time, and then the whole group can take stock. Hopefully the end of this fight isn't too far off.

Negative on COVID and been out of the hospital a couple of days, but still coughing up a storm. No voice and this post is about all the typing I can manage right now. Sorry! :( Will be back ASAP!

So glad to hear you don't have Covid! Take your time and don't bother replying. I'll assume you are ok with us continuing to bot you unless I hear otherwise. Wishing you good health!

My father has taken a turn for the worse and I'll be driving back north to try to help on Tuesday. My posting is likely to be irregular in the days ahead. Thanks for your understanding.

Thanks, everyone. I'm here in NJ with my dad. The end is near, probably some time in the next week, possibly less. It's very good to be here with him and he's not suffering.

I'm able to get online at unpredictable intervals. I think I will keep our game frozen as is for the moment, since there's too much chance that I could do that and then not be able to get online at all for a day or two or three. Once I get back to Atlanta, after my Dad passes, I'll be self-quarantining for a couple of weeks, so that seems like a better opportunity for us to continue.

I just want to explain all this since we've already had such a long delay prior to this. I appreciate all of your understanding.

Thanks for letting us know.

Not to worry. Take the time you need and you are in our thoughts.

Hey everyone. My father passed away peacefully and I am back home and trying to get caught up on things. I expect it'll be a few more days before I'm able to resume our game. Sorry for the delay and just wanted to post to let you know I haven't forgotten about y'all. Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.

Welcome back. Care to tell us something you learned about your father during the services? I've never been to the services for someone without learning something I've never known about them before.

Unfortunately, because of the pandemic we could not have a funeral (or sit shiva, as is the custom in the Jewish tradition). Where my parents live is a major hot spot, so the day after he died we (myself, my mother, and my brother) all left. I drove 14 hours back to my home, while my mother went to ride out the pandemic with my brother who lives in a very rural area. Now I am self-quarantining for 14 days.

My family was were just commenting to one another how frustrating it would be to have planned a wedding or have to deal with a funeral at this time. We heard one story about how for one 'service' they drove the hearse through the deceased's neighborhood and people paid their respects from the sidelines. Doesn't seem fair, but such is life.

Yeah. A friend of mine, her daughter just got married today - she couldn't be there, nor anyone else, they all participated by zoom. But yes, such is life. In my dad's case, I think we actually got to do much more of his final week of care than would have been the case otherwise because the hospice nurse was just calling in by phone instead of coming to visit. So it was actually just him and the three of us, his closest family, so we all felt like that was very special and I'm sure that he took great comfort from our presence. It was quite intimate actually, and very different from, say, my uncle who passed away in a hospital room.

I love to find silver linings.

Sorry, everyone. Things have been a little hectic on the home front. It's the final days of the semester and I am, of course, way behind. I hope to get us started back up again soon and once I do, we should be able to keep a steady pace from here on out.

Whew, I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted in gameplay. Sorry about that!

Classes - for what has definitely been the worst semester ever - are finally over and I'm ready to resume our game and push us through what seems to be a never-ending level. Before I post in gameplay though, I just want to check in and see if everyone is still here and ready to proceed?

And, again, thanks for your patience. I hope you are all healthy and staying safe and sane.

Present!

Still hanging in there!

I've PM-ed both Altovin and Dasus to let them know that play has resumed so hopefully they will both be able to check in.

I also wanted to let you all know that I've had interest from a couple of other players whose Emerald Spire run fell apart after this current level. I told them I would check with all of you about them joining in for the next level - I'm fine with it but want to hear your opinions. Obviously we still have more of this level to go, though I'm hopeful that now that things have calmed down for me on the home front that I should be able to keep us going at a good pace.

So, let me know what you think.

Ha! The one's from Flaxseed? I was gonna ask you if you were interested in scooping up some extras :-p

I'm all for it.

I am still here and fine with more people to join in.

I'm also OK with extra people as long as it doesn't go over 6.

Sorry I didn't answer sooner, I have been having a very bad week for my ability to post.

Even if I was having a good week, however, I don't think I can keep up anymore. It's just too hard on my voice. If this was a once or twice a week game, I could probably manage, but it's not fair of me to keep slowing you guys down or asking you to bot me.

I'm very sorry. I had a lot of fun with this group, when I could post.

Dasus, I completely understand and respect your decision. And I wish you continuing recovery with your health. You've completed enough of the module to receive a chronicle with half credit (i.e. 1.5 xp, 2 prestige, and half the normal gold). Shall I issue you a chronicle?

Everyone else, there are a couple of other players interested in joining *after* we finish this level. My suggestion is that we have a player-controlled pregen wander in to join you at this point. What do you think?

Thanks. And yes, please. Good luck on the rest, everybody!

Ok, I'll get your chronicle prepped in the next day or two and will PM you when it's ready. And sending you good healthy thoughts. It's been fun!

Wishing you the best Dasus and hope to see you in another game some time!

A pregen is fine with me.

We could even have a prospective player run the character.

We could even have a prospective player run the character.

I think both of the players who want to join have already played through this level. My preference, which I also think will help keep us moving, is for the three of you just to pick a pregen (level 4), and then either one of you manage them, or you take turns.

Geez, my go-tos for useful pre-gens are so thrown off by a water dungeon :-p

Maybe Balazar? What do his summons look like at this level? Squids, frogs and water elementals...

Anyone else have a preference?

I like the oracle pre-gen, Alahazra, though it is hard to find her character sheet on line.

Ok, well it sounds like you are all fine with adding a pregen, with one vote for Balazar and one vote for Alahazra. Anyone willing to volunteer to run the pregen? I'll say that the first person who volunteers gets to settle the question of which pregen, just so we can keep moving along.

I would rather not run the pre-gen but if I need to I would rather run an Oracle over a summoner just as it is less to manage for the rest of the level. Just gotta get the sheet.

I would be happy to run the pregen, but I just need the 4th level character sheet for her and I could not locate it on line and I don't have the pdf or book. Wasn't there some kind of paizo effort to build a database of forum friendly sheets out there? I'll check in flaxseed, but provided I can locate the character sheet I will run her.

I got her scraped together - happy to run her as well :-)

Ok, great. Thanks for handling that. I'll get us going again shortly - most likely tomorrow some time.

Sorry for the long delay in restarting us - I'm a bit busy with solo parenting and Paizocon Online at the moment so I'll plan to start us back up on Sunday. Thanks for your patience.

Will be busy with ConCurrent through the weekend - will move us along after that.

Sorry for the delay - home & work both been a little rough recently. Hope to have a post up tonight or tomorrow.

My apologies everyone and thanks for your patience. Will get us going as soon as I can.

At least you are showing tenacity. I appreciate that.