OGGM's Spires of Xin Shalast

Game Master Jeff Przybylo

We are in the home stretch! So glad to have you guys with me for these YEARS! Let's finish this...

Oohh! Shiny!

This might be a good time to do some selling and restocking. A few items have names next to them. Make sure that, if correct, they are on your character sheet. If you take something let everyone know so we can properly account for it. Once done, we'll sell off everything that's left and divide the gold.

Illusion
*bookcases full of tomes and scrolls 1500gp Brodert
*ring of protection +1 x6
*cloak of resistance +2 x6
*headband of vast intelligence +2 x6
*golden peacock statue 800gp
*noble outfits 200gp x6
*cape of the mountebank Thordak
*headband of vast intelligence +6 Lym
*ring of wizardry II Lym
*Tome of Leadership and Influence +2 Praxim
*spellbooks 8000gp Lym

Enchantment
*+2 glamered mithril chain shirt
*+1 dagger
*belt of physical might +4 (Dex, Con) Praxim
*belt of dex +4 from Praxim

Transmutation
*books 10,000gp
*cloak of resistance +1
*rod of metal and mineral detection
*spellbooks Lym
*staff of mithril might Lym
*pearl of power II Tomaru
*diamond dust 500gp Lym

Conjuration
*rod of absorption
*cloak of resistance +3
*handy haversack Thordak
*diamond dust 500gp Lym
*ring of protection +2
*an ivory plaque worth 150 gp
*silver mirror worth 1,000 gp
*Immovable Rod x2
*Scroll of Planar Ally
*Scroll of Teleport
*Scroll of Stone to Flesh
*Manual of Gainful Exercise +2 Thordak
*spellbooks Lym

Necromancy
*+2 human-bane dagger
*+3 chain shirt
*+2 amulet of natural armor
*+1 cloak of resistance, 146 gp
*staff of hungry shadows (10 charges)
*bracers of armor +5
*headband of vast intelligence +4 (Kn Nobility and Spellcraft)
*ring of protection +2

Evocation
*+1 greatsword x2
*+1 ranseur x2
*+1 longsword x2
*wand clairvoyance/clairaudience (29)
*wand of lightning bolt (CL 10, 25)
*+4 mithral breastplate
*+1 flaming adamantine ranseur
*amulet of natural armor +2
*belt of physical perfection
*cloak of resistance +3
*headband of vast Int +2
*ring of protection +2.

Praxim will take one of the +2 amulets of natural armour.

Rexil will take another if nobody else wants it. Praxim returns his +1 to the pool.

Don't need nothing. All looks good to me.

And man this is crazy. Book 6. What a ride it has been up to this point. Can't wait to see how this story plays out. Gonna be fun.

We HAVE to finish now. Has anyone ever finished an AP on these boards?

I haven’t.

Incidentally, this game was the first game I ever played PBP.

I posted this at the end of May of 2017

..... My search also highlighted that

* Lym is the last of the original characters. She has always been scary.
* She and I (with a now deceased character) are both original players. The game has been going since Dec 2009.
* Praxim has a long history of being a jerk.
* There have been 2 gms (big props to OGGM for saving the game), 10 players, and 11 characters.

The only thing that's changed is that its two and a half years later.

No. I have never completed an AP, let alone one on these boards.

That funeral thing was hard for me to do. I got more emotional than I should have.

Forgot to add the items from Aurora.

Aurora
*lesser cold elemental metamagic rod
*lesser selective metamagic rod
*scroll of plane shift
*+1 domineering spiked gauntlet
*handy haversack
*headband of alluring charisma +6
*ring of resistance +3

Illusion
*bookcases full of tomes and scrolls 1500gp Brodert
*ring of protection +1 x6
*cloak of resistance +2 x6
*headband of vast intelligence +2 x6
*golden peacock statue 800gp
*noble outfits 200gp x6
*Tome of Leadership and Influence +2 Praxim; did Praxim already read this?
*spellbooks 8000gp Lym

Enchantment
*+2 glamered mithril chain shirt
*+1 dagger
*belt of dex +4

Transmutation
*books 10,000gp
*cloak of resistance +1
*rod of metal and mineral detection
*spellbooks Lym

Conjuration
*rod of absorption
*cloak of resistance +3
*ring of protection +2
*an ivory plaque worth 150 gp
*silver mirror worth 1,000 gp
*Immovable Rod x2
*Scroll of Planar Ally
*Scroll of Teleport
*Scroll of Stone to Flesh
*Manual of Gainful Exercise +2 Thordak; did Thordak already read this?
*spellbooks Lym

Necromancy
*+2 human-bane dagger
*+3 chain shirt
*+1 amulet of natural armor
*+1 cloak of resistance, 146 gp
*staff of hungry shadows (10 charges)
*bracers of armor +5
*headband of vast intelligence +4 (Kn Nobility and Spellcraft)
*ring of protection +2

Evocation
*+1 greatsword x2
*+1 ranseur x2
*+1 longsword x2
*wand clairvoyance/clairaudience (29)
*wand of lightning bolt (CL 10, 25)
*+3 mithral chain shirt
*+1 flaming adamantine ranseur
*belt of physical might (str and dex) +2
*cloak of resistance +3
*headband of vast Int +2
*ring of protection +2
*sihedron medallion

Castle Lym:

* 39,500 cp
* 9,410 sp
* 63610 gp
* 250 pp
* Mixed in with the coins are tapestries, small items of furniture made of precious woods, delicate pieces of jewelry and fine works of art, silverware and candelabras, six everburning torches, and jewelry worth an additional 16,000 gp Sell?
* Arrows, masterwork x14
* six thunderstone
* ivory set of lesser bracers of archery
* chime of opening (5 charges)
* flametongue
* masterwork suit of full plate decorated with onyx ravens perched on the shoulders (each raven is worth 200 gp)
* suit of +3 half-plate with a wolf motif
* 6 vials of frozen holy water
* Small +1 mithral shirt
* +1 adamantine warhammer
* Cloak of Protection +2
* Buckler +1
* Scroll of Globe of Invulnerability
* Scroll of Blindness/Deafness

Tomaru gives
+3 mithral chain shirt for the
belt of physical might +2 (dex and con)
sihedron medallion

Tomaru takes
+4 mithral breastplate
belt of physical perfection +2

Praxim should probably snatch up Aurora’s +6 headband and offer his +4 Charisma headband to the pot.

We HAVE to finish now. Has anyone ever finished an AP on these boards?

Nope. Never. Finished a few smaller games but never an AP. Not even close.

@Dax: Wow. 10 players and 11 characters. And you two are the only original ones left. That's pretty cool. And I actually thought Nazard was an original player. That surprises me.

And per the Manual: Yes. He will now. We've never had any downtime since we've found it, so now that we do, he will.

Despite the appearance of a lack of time, you do have some time to get things done. Even off to a big city like Magnimar.

Get it all done, there won't be any turning back.

First we need to know how much money we have to spend.

Ok. How about everyone has until Monday to claim items? I'll then work out what we have after that.

Nothing for Thordak. He's good.

And oh my gosh that is a LOT of garbage to sell. So stinking much.

Ok. How about everyone has until Monday to claim items? I'll then work out what we have after that.

Slight delay. I'll have it by tomorrow morning.

OK. Selling everything except the furniture in Castle Lym, some scrolls, and Aurora's domineering gauntlets the four pcs each receive get 68,669gp..

Castle Lym
* tapestries, furniture made of precious woods, delicate pieces of jewelry and fine works of art, silverware and candelabras, six everburning torches, and jewelry worth an additional 16,000 gp
* small +1 spiked gauntlet, domineering
* scroll of plane shift
* scroll of planar ally
* scroll of stone to flesh

Do we have some crafting time? Praxim would like to do the following:

Have Rexil’s great club made magic (+3, creation cost 9,000)
Upgrade Rexil’s armour to +3 (creation cost 4,000)
Get boots of speed (creation cost 6,000)
Upgrade headband to +6 (creation cost 18,000)
Upgrade belt to +6 (creation cost 25,000)

He could instead afford to just buy the boots outright and still have enough to buy a bunch of adamantine arrows.

You have time.

Wait, are we creating these items? If so, who is it? I ask because I see Praxim's cost are half price. I didn't realize when you wrote "creation" cost it was only half the price(I knew the Boots of Speed were 12 grand so that's what caught my eye). I just figured that was the cost to have it done.

So I figure one of you(because it sure ain't Thordak) might have a creation feat that I wasn't aware of. Otherwise, shouldn't we be paying full cost? I'd be glad to be informed if I'm missing something somewhere because that is typically what happens. :P

Lym has tons of creation feats.

Edit: okay I just looked and she has Arms and Armour and Scribe Scroll. Not sure where I got the idea she had them all.

I'm selling this:

Headband of unshakeable resolve/Headband of Vast Int(Fly)

I don't know how to upgrade it and I just find it annoying. I wish I would have thought about it then. Dumb me.

Anyway, it's worth 11,600 which in turn leads to 5800 which in turn leads to 1450 gold each.

Wow. You know, I didn't realize there was only 4 of us. I was totally thinking 5 until I actually thought about it. That's crazy.

Anyhow, I'm just gonna roll with a typical 10,000g headband of Int(fly)/Wis. So that's why I'm selling the aforementioned headband. (You know, it's not everyday you get to use "aforementioned". :D)

Tomaru has Craft Wonderous Item.

Cast Create Demiplane, Lesser to expand Castle Lym and make it permanent. (Permanency cost 17500)
Boots of Speed (creation cost 6000)
Goggles of Night (creation cost 6000)
Ioun Stone, dark blue rhomboid (creation cost 5000)
Ioun Stone, dull gray (creation cost 25)
Ioun Stone, dusty rose prism (creation cost 2500)
Ioun Stone, eastern star (creation cost 2000)
Ioun Stone, gold nodule (creation cost 2500)
Ioun Stone, pale ruby trillian (creation cost 2500)
Ioun Stone, scarlet and blue sphere (creation cost 4000)
Ioun Stone, scarlet and green cabochon (creation cost 5000)
Ioun Stone, tourmaline sphere (creation cost 500)
Pearl of Power 3rd (creation cost 4500)
Pearl of Power 4th (creation cost 8000)
Pearl of Power 5th (creation cost 12,500)

Okay, sounds like Tomaru is going to be busy with 64 days of crafting ahead, so if Lym can do the weapon and armour upgrade for Rexil, Praxim will go buy some boots and pay someone to upgrade his headband to +6, leaving him 7,669 for other things.

How much time we got? 4 months maybe? 6? Can we take a year?

I said you have time, BUT you do know that Karzoug has awakened. To what extent he has regained his former power is unknown at this point. There are ways to try and find out - you are powerful enough to use those means - but right now I'm not going to set a definitive time.

In addition, you only know he has a mountain fast - Mhar Massif - in the city of Xin Shalast, but no one has confirmed the location of the city in 10,000 years. You have discovered that Xin Shalast was rumored to be in the Kodar Mountains, but that is as far as you've got. There's still some research/spell casting to be done to gather the final location of the city.

You can take as much as you want, but remember others are advancing their agendas as well...

Information is probably the most important thing you need right now. So use all of the resources available to high-level characters and prepare yourselves appropriately. Don't forget you have the resources of the Thassilonian library under Jorgenfist as well. Speaking of which, didn't you guys give Brodert access to that?

Yes. Yes we did.

The question is, how much time we want to take? Tomaru doesn't need all the ioun stones. I went sort of crazy with them.

Sort of?

Seriously, be powerful. Have cool stuff. I think most players never get to this level in game (don't know if you all have) so go for it.

BUT

The challenges scale with the increase in power, and this is the Final Chapter.

Looking forward to it.

I've actually had a couple of pc's that were built high level but I've never had a pc actually reach this high of level. And while I did enjoy running those pc's, it was absolutely nothing compared to the level of enjoyment I've had running Thordak. It can't compare. It just can't. With all the ups and downs and backwards and forwards you go through, you don't get that kind of growth when you're automatically high level. And those pc's I built at high level were 17th and 18th level respectively.

Obviously you really can't grow with a pc at that level and experience the blood, sweat, and tears it takes to get there since you're already there.

Upgrade +2 ring to +3 (10,000)
Upgrade +2 amulet to +3 (10,000)
Lenses of detection (3500) (Buy)
Upgrade cloak +4 to +5 (9000)
Headband of wis/int(fly) (10,000)
Armor +3 to +5 (10,000 if Lym does it)
Weapon +1 to +2 (11,000 if Lym does it)

So if Thordak can convince Lym to upgrade his weapon and armor, he's set. :)

Thordak will have all his other stuff upgraded in Magnimar. That way Tomaru can work on upgrading the others. Honestly, I don't really care about paying full cost. If I could swing the armor and weapon I wouldn't have asked Lym about that. But it's just a bit too much.

And I'd say we should take no more than 6 months. If we could cut it to 3 months that'd be even better. Thordak would definitely be of "the sooner the better" opinion. I think we should definitely cap it at 6 months though.

4 to 6 months is what I actually figured/hoped.

Sounds good. Praxim doesn’t have high-level magic for information gathering, and his Diplomacy is crap, too.

2 skill points per level really hurts.

He’s just good at giving the bad guys the shaft.

Sounds like a plan to me then. Cool.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Back at it after a long vacation. Are we all set to go? Once everyone tells me what they are getting and that character sheets are updated, we will start.

More questions before we go: how much of what has happened are you sharing, and with who? Giant invasions, return of Runelords, who are you telling if anyone?

A quick timeline that would show how things have escalated, with an (arbitrary) scale of importance to Magnimar:

1: a goblin raid on Sandpoint (1)
2: hidden ruins under the town/under nearby goblin fort (1)
3: series of murders in Sandpoint (1)
4: murders tied to cult within Magnimar and involving a chief justice (2)
5: frontier fort overrun by ogres (2)
6: ties between ogres and giants and same cult (2.5)
7: attack on Sandpoint by giants/dragon (3)
8: giant army forming (far away) (3)
9: mysterious sink hole in Sandpoint (3.5)

The reoccurrence of the Sihedron Rune throughout all of this only concerns some of the players. Brother Pietre being the primary person here.

EDIT: scale is 1-10. 10 being extreme importance to the city.

Brother Pietre should know.
Ameiko should get a version of it if only to immortalize us in song.
Mayor Deverin, Sheriff Hemlock, Father Zantus, and any other dignitaries in Sandpoint that wish to be appraised of the situation as Sandpoint seems to be a focal point.
Shalelu in case she wants to help. (Ooh! We should go back to Turtleback Ferry and see about that lake monster.... and check in on the Black Arrows.)

Praxim will need to check on his Fort. They should also look in on the stone giants and let their new leader know what’s been happening, if only to further secure the alliance.

That it? Ok, will get a summary together.

No. Not it. Lym had asked about the grounds where the Foxglove house was.

No. Not it. Lym had asked about the grounds where the Foxglove house was.

I'm not seeing that, and I went through her most recent posts. Care to remind me?

This post is from Fortress of the Stone Giants (Sep 9, 2016)

Once the group has returned to Sandpoint, Lym goes to see Ameiko.

"I know you don't like to play the noble, but I wonder if you'd help me get something done with the council while we're gone hunting Giants. I want Foxglove Manor. I want to own it so I can scour it from this world and put up something else there. A good house, a place of peace and joy for centuries to come."

But I then found this in Sins of the Saviors (May 8, 2017)

Let's get cleaned up then: make sure we are updated on our characters/headers/ etc. Finalize any level 13 things.

Then the fun stuff: what are each of you doing? You have the option to take as much time as you need to do the things you want. Lym alone will need a month or two to do the research in the library at Jorgenfist. Let me know what you will be doing as far as crafting, etc.

Divide up the loot as you need. Assume that you will receive a 65% (not 50%) selling price once word reaches them that the giant threat has ended. Brother Pietro can arrange anything you may need. The deed for the Foxglove place comes through as well.

Ready, set, go.

emphasis mine.

I know that they are from back a time, but this is our first opportunity to actually do anything with it.

Oh my gosh, dude, what a freaking memory! There is ABSOLUTELY no way I'd ever remember that. EVER. Heck, I barely remember last week! :P

It's only due to some of my recent searches.

Handout is hard to read, so here is a transcript:

Salutations, Mr. Quink!

In good health,
Redwing

If you look at a good map of Varisia, you can find the Kazaron River in the far northwest corner of the map. It is a long ways from Sandpoint or Magnimar, and the closest jump-off point for you may actually be Jorgenfist on the Storval Plateau.

Please make yourselves familiar with the rules for adventuring in the high mountains on pages 428-430 of the Core Rulebook. I will be enforcing these, so plan accordingly.

Could Lym use her demiplane spell to change the conditions of Castle Lym to mimic high altitude? If we live in high altitude for a month, we become acclimatized to it and have an easier time with a lot of it.

Sure, it snows. You're constantly short of breath while you sleep. You're always going up no matter which way you travel. Elk roam the halls. Sherpas and English explorers appear from nowhere.

And therein lies the beauty of the Mountaineer alternate racial trait, bay-bee! :)