Volcano's Land - Unknown Depths (Inactive)

Game Master Miner Cotren

No, I'm innocent, I swear!

:)

Well now I feel bad. I was torn when it was Nempura, "we can't just leave her here!" But now that it's Novalie (given meta circumstances) I'm fine about leaving her...

What a bad sylph.

Let's be honest, you just wanted to get your birdy hands on my hair without me knowing about it. :P

You can't prove that Badhbh was going to shave you while you slept and you never will!

I think Nempura would die if she was shaved.

I'll answer Freya's question here, since it's a longer answer:

check this MAP

--If you were to go in a straight line from you current location (which is close to the southernmost Pearl Beach on River) it would be about 800 miles. If you made very, very good time going through the light forest and swamps, it would take at least 26 days, but a more conservative estimate would be 30 days or more (so almost a full month) (I'm going by the estimates given in the SRD, which say you can go an average of 24 miles per day in more or less neutral conditions)

--If you found a skilled watersinger, you could go upRiver. Even though the way is significantly longer (about 3500 miles), the best watersingers are able to propel personal crafts in ways that make long distances seem much shorter. They can travel 150-200 miles per day in the hands of a journeyelen. Oddly, even shorter journeys (20 - 30 miles) still take most of a day using this watersinging technique. It is also more difficult to transport cargo or large numbers of elens this way.

----So in short, travel off the beaten path for a month or more ; or go a more common route (and maybe monitored by the Temple) and have it take more like three weeks

I love Badhbh's cynicism/realism. That was a nice touch.

And Nempura, that symbol sounds perfect. This is a shared story, and I'm always cool with players coming up with little things like that :)

GM: Sylph info says...

"Alien
Creativity can replace sleep."

Does this literally mean that I can not sleep as long as I'm being creative instead? Would mentally devising a contraption count?

Yes, but it eventually catches up with you once you are done with the project. So this would be useful in a situation where something needs to be done now and you can avoid penalties from skipping sleep for a time.

I'll plan on updating to a new day in-game tomorrow (Wednesday)

Hi All,

It sounds like Oak was not really getting into his character, and preferred to bow out. As I told him on PM, I was happy he joined for the time he did, and as always I appreciate a message rather than just stopping posting. See you around the boards!

Here are my thoughts:

1) I am very happy with the group as is. I think Nempura, Freya, and Badhbh are great characters, and I don't feel it necessary to do another recruitment right now.

1a) that being said, if any of you happen to hear of someone who wants to join and take Oak, that would be fine, as he is sticking around.

2) I don't want Oak to just disappear, so I am going to make my own simpler version (a ranger with no animal companion) that keeps the same basics (good with survival and other skills; solid, strong front liner; etc)

2a) That being said, my interpretation of the character will be quite passive, in that he will spend most of his time meditating upon old dreams and consulting his spirits, and will only speak when he has something to add to the conversation, otherwise he is content to listen.

Aww, well, good luck to him in his future games. I know what it's like when it doesn't quite click and he shouldn't have to stick around for our sakes.

Too bad. I had hoped it'd work out.

That's a shame. Good to say something early though.

I'm perfectly ok with having conversations between PCs right now -- when we are all ready to move to the next scene, I think the entire group has to discuss where to go next (there is more than one way to go north)

Badhbh, no worries, glad you are back.

I'm okay with waiting on Freya to answer - I think it's important for everyone to agree on where you are going next. I prefer we all try to post once per day for the most part - let me know if anyone's schedule is going to be changing heading into September.

There may be a point in time where it will be extra difficult for me to post in September while I'm on vacation (I may not even have service), but even there I will try.

Sorry, today's been a busy day. Workin on something now.

Planning on updating tonight, to include traveling for the day. Freya, if I don't hear back I'm going to plan on botting you (it's been since Monday. No big deal, hope all is ok)

All: what skill will you be using during the day? Ex: survival for more foraging and keeping directions ; perception for keeping watch ; other?

Oak will definitely be doing survival, watching the rear and catching up during the last few hours of the day.

During her turn to drive, Nempura will use Perception, Ride, Knowledge Nature (to know potential dangers). She will probably assist rolls on survival and will keep early morning watch.

When in the back, she will attempt to further treat the seaweed gathered to make it more leathery for Badbhb, so Craft Jewelry (Untrained), Perception out the back, and probably a perform of some kind (unless someone is sleeping). She has a gear maintenance kit and will likely upkeep her weaponry to be in fit shape. Any other time, she will be using detect magic to study not only her companions but the area around them (you never know). But this is done mostly for increasing her concentration ability for prolonged periods.

At some point, I'd like her to practice Ifrit, so she'd probably do that with someone. She knows High Ifrit from studies, but not how to converse normally with average Ifrits.

Sorry things have been busy recently, It should hopefully calm down soon enough.

I can feel that. My workload just tripled for a time.

Will respond to the rest (perceptions, skills, etc) tomorrow. Busier weekend than I am used to (but not in a bad way)

That was a good perception and engineering roll, Badbhb!

Agreed - with a 20 on the engineering, feel free RP what you've made (I'm always happy to let PCs narrate little touches like that)

Nempura, the perception, nature, and detect magic is good practice for your general skills and concentration but for today the stretch of road is quiet - Badhbh reports more activity on the water of course.

Also, who would you ask to help you with speaking Ifrit? (feel free to RP it)

DM, I don't know how much Badhbh could realistically achieve with his limited resources, or how Kapelo would react. I may have just tried a piece of junk to his wrist.

Also, I forgot to include it in my earlier post would it be ok to retcon Badhbh snaffling a pound or so of flour before we left the mill?

Yep, grabbing flour from the mill is perfect OK.

You made something that is aesthetically pleasing and articulated - certainly better than scarred, absent flesh. I'll post Kapelo's reaction tonight.

I am enjoying the group dynamics- there's some interesting tensions and harmonies between different characters.

Phew, I hope so. Freya is quick to get angry and lash out, which certainly doesn't help her in social situations. She's a bit more explosive than characters I usually play and combined with her moral code, she can be a handful. Hopefully she hasn't been making the game less fun to play.

Badhbh and Freya from my point of view is one of the more classic types. The strict moral code of the knight vs. the more self-sufficient mercenary lifestyle. Is Freya brave or foolish to stick to her code? We'll have to see. As militaristic types, they're more likely to bond during combat than out, but there are opportunities for friendly competition.

Nempura and Freya have finally moved past the initial phases of enmity to explore some of their similarities. While I worry about how prior interactions have been maybe a bit too caustic, where they are now is a good springboard into the later stages of the game.

Kapelo and Freya seem almost diametrically opposed. While their goals align, their methods are radically different. I'm sure I'm not the only one who sees tension in their future.

Oak and Freya have had very limited interaction, and unfortunately that probably won't change. C'est la vie.

Yorse and Freya have an interesting relationship, but I'm not sure how it's progressing. This kind of took me by surprise and it's difficult to figure out what to do with Yorse. Luckily Freya's as much out of her depth as I am.

Freya's Combat Role
Freya's initial design was frontline tank/healer, but with Oak and Badhbh now in the party, she might be better suited to backline archery. Her Dex is significantly higher than her Str. Let me know what you think!

Also, here are some distances and travel times, to give everyone a sense of what is happening:

IceFall is the end of River - a fortress of ice that holds back darkspawn. over a million undines live there (and a quarter of them are watersingers that keep the defenses going)

IceFall to Rushing Falls:
400 miles by River
2 days for a very skilled watersinger’s iceboat
(farther south) No good roads - impossible for wagons, and difficult on foot.

you are currently headed north, following the road that runs parallel to River, toward Rushing Falls, part of the southern Pearl Beaches.

Vi Thanh to Rushing Falls:
100 miles by road or River (they are parallel)
-Well-driven crew running 10 hours per day, 30 miles/day in a wagon on a decent road. ~3 days
Skilled watersinger, 1 day
Novice watersinger upRiver - 40 miles/day = ~ 2 and a half days
Novice watersinger downRiver - 80 miles/day = a little over a day of travel

It was my daughter's eighth birthday today, so a very busy day indeed :)

Update tommorrow!

Congratulations to her!

Freya, I apologize, I never responded to the DM spoiler from your post around Aug 6th I think.

Morning all.

Sorry, needing to arrange to move house with some haste and it's sapping my noggin. I'll get something up in the next few hours.

GM, many happy returns to your little one!

Loux

Thanks for the update, and the kind message :)

Apologies for the slower posting rate - I'm a teacher and it's been professional development this week, getting ready for students to come back on Sept 8th. Getting used to putting in long days and keeping a little energy in reserve for posting at night after the kiddos are in bed.

That's understandable.

I'm just letting you know that for the next few days I'm going to be out of town. Afterward, I may have some crazy times to play catch-up with my online store. Also, it seems like the laptop I use is on the way out, so it may be even harder to post if I get stuck without it working. I'll try to keep posting on my phone in the meantime, which hopefully shouldn't be a problem. Where I'm going I hope has service.

posting to all: super tired, first couple days of school have been exhausting but also rewarding. Planning on updates on Friday.

thanks for your patience, all - I can't promise anything of posting this week, but things are better, and I'm hoping for roughly every other day.

So......

We're forming a band. Right?

I think we are :P

Sounds good to me.

Will plan on updating tonight - busy week thus far.

Thanks again for your patience. You are all completely, amazingly in tune with this world, and I don't want the demands of my hectic job to make it seem I don't care. Your DM will persevere!

Awesome. I also have been busy. Pulled an all-nighter working on my business last night. EEE...I got "kind of" caught up.

I'm actually gearing up to for a new job myself. After being stuck at home for so long I just don't have the energy I used to. I get tired walking to the store!