Protectors of Golarion (Wrath of the Righteous AP)

Game Master Sensen

So, it looks like Azira's player hasn't posted in any of their accounts since the 1st of June. While I hope they're okay, this does mean that it's been quite some time. What are your thoughts on how we should proceed, players?

Azira has had slowdowns due to her work schedule before, notably last fall. Based on what she said in her last post here, I hope it's just one of those and she'll check back in with us soon. For now, when the ghoul fight starts, I hope she'd be comfortable with you botting for her. If it gets up to a month with no word, we might have to think about recruiting a replacement, although I really don't want to.

P.S. Does Verene know this paladin's name/title or any of the mercenaries' names? She would use them here in asking him and/or the mercenaries to take charge of the prisoners.

I'd like to give Azira a bit more time as well. He/she is a solid writer. That they've stopped posting on all campaigns (without notice?) for three weeks straight might be a bad sign, though. If he/she doesn't come back, perhaps we can open recruitment for a new fifth. Alternatively, we can try going with 4. Between the four of us we have a fairly classic party with Elliot falling in for the fighter and Thesius for the rogue.

If Radiance being in the group is important to the story, perhaps Merixia or Thesius could take it over as it's fairly close to the bastard sword/bards have proficiency and is also greatly powerful, which would greatly increase their damage. Alternatively I could perhaps have Elliot take it and make him a dual-wielding swordsman. For that to happen though, you'd need to clear third party mythic support as a magus is normally forced to keep one hand free for his class features to function. Or allow spellcasting while both hands are occupied if Elliot took a mythic archmage ability that removed somatic components for spellcasting. (Raw, spell combat would still require a free hand even if the spell doesn't require the hand doing anything to be cast). That would be a very feat intensive and flashy/cool build but not necessarily a good one for the investment.

I would also like to give Azira's player a bit longer to return. I like them, they're both a good player and a good roleplayer. There's also the fact that this is a really awkward point to introduce a new character. How would they have mythic abilities if they weren't there for the wardstone explosion?

Merixia is not proficient with the longsword, and IC she would feel uncomfortable wielding a weapon so strongly tied to another deity. Do we need Radiance for the plot? If not, we can probably make do with the just the four of us. If so, either Thesius can try it on for size or we recruit another paladin of Iomedae.

I agree that botting Azira for the moment makes sense while we give them some more time.

Radiance...well I hope Azira comes back soon.

It sounds like we're all agreed to wait for Azira for a little while longer. Radiance isn't actually critical to the plot, so even if we go at it with four, nothing hinges on it.

But I agree, we can give them another bit.

I'm going to move us forwards a bit, but please get your temporary buffs in if you have them, Thesius & Elliot.

Ugh, I forgot about my heroism banner when I was doing buffs. That'll teach me to check twice before posting.

I think you already used it? Pretty sure I have it on your status line...

Hey everyone,
I'm really sorry for disappearing for a few weeks there. Work has not improved (in fact, due to people leaving over the recent changes I now have more responsibilities then when this all started), and now I'm looking for a new job on top of that. I definitely should have at least made time to give you all a heads up before now though, so (again) I apologize for that. I've gotten accustomed enough to the situation that I could probably start making some posts again--if you're open to that--but, truthfully, it wouldn't be everyday: more like a couple per week. If that's not often enough, or if I've already lost my spot, I totally understand. Please just let me know what you'd like me to do.
Azira

Oncall this week is messing me up. I'm getting ready to get a post up shortly though.

Glad to hear from you again Azira. Hopefully the job situation improves soon.

I'm totally down for you still posting when you can. We can always bot if we're in between hearing from you. That's just my opinion though.

Azira, you're back! :D Stay with us, I'd rather you post less often than not post at all. Best of luck on the job hunt. I'm in that boat too right now.

Welcome back, Azira! I also hope your job situation improves soon, or you find another position that works better for you. In the meantime, I hope you'll stay and post when you can, like the others said. Even if you can't make a gameplay post for a given period, just a note to keep us in the loop or let us know that Azira will need to be botted for a time would be enough and very appreciated. Great to hear from you.

Good luck with your job hunt too, Merixia, and I hope your oncall period lets up soon, Thesius.

Glad to hear from you again, Azira! I hope things improve for you soon. We've kept your seat warm, and now that I know you're not just vanishing from the face of the forums, I'm happy to keep doing so for at least another few weeks (if not months). As Verene says, letting us know if possible would be grand.

Good luck on the job hunt for everyone involved in the job hunt (which I am as well), so I hope it ends well.

Thanks Verene. Fortunately my oncall ends pretty early this coming Monday and it will be some time before I'm back on again.

Man these attack rolls...

Thanks for letting us know, Azira. I'm swamped with work myself, trying to navigate through the workbase politics of leading a team here so I definitely know the feeling/situation. I'd rather you stayed with us too even if it means you post less often.

What should we do for combats in that case, though? Are you okay with keeping to bot Azira, GM?

I'm fine with botting Azira for awhile, sure. It'll be a bit tough to remember all of her possible options, but I can try.

For the record, I'm not sure it was clear - the berblang was willing to talk, but also was prepared to attack if the heroes weren't, Thesius. So you have made him hostile again.

Ah. Well. Whoops. I was heavily under the impression that it was going to ambush us if we kept talking and Elliot would assume Thesius knew what he was doing. :) what's done is done though?

I'm willing to let Thesius retcon his action (and you, yours) if you want - I suspect it was the result of a misunderstanding on the OOC side of things, and don't want to punish that.

Thesius will hold off on attacking right away then. I thought it was prepping to attack regardless of whether we tried to talk to it.

I figured as much, so I wanted to let you know.

Verene has no interest in letting an evil cannibalistic undead hang out or escape when we could kill it instead, and is going to fireball Moxsahbuul and his minion with extreme prejudice at the first opportunity. So if anyone doesn't want that, please speak now. :)

Thesius fully expects someone is going to attack the every living hell out of it, so do as you will. He's just gathering what information he can while he has the chance. Seems like he already managed to get a tidbit or two.

Merixia: "Me, casting a spell? Noooo, both of my hands are holding my sword, see?" *tail grabs activation item behind her back*

Aw, what about redemption, then? :P

I'm only partially joking.

Yeah, I was on the fence here with redemption aspects for Elliot but I just don't see this going well, leaving an entire nest of disease spreading undead behind us for... ?? Especially since if this guy says the truth, he apparently cannot completely stop or control his minions.

He doesn't care if you get rid of the ghouls - he's not in charge of them, after all. He's very much looking out for himself.

Thanks! And, sorry I haven't made a gameplay post yet... this is going to sound a little outrageous but, my SO's uncle was murdered by his ex-wife last week and things have been a little crazy since. The funeral, which we're both helping with, is tomorrow so, hopefully, I should be able to get a post up like Wednesday-ish.

Whoa, that is crazy, Azira.

Even if it's just this one guy, we don't need him to haunt our enemies, can't effectively imprison a creature that can go incorporeal and do a bunch of other magic at will, and definitely don't want him to then slip away to go make a lair elsewhere to start draining people or setting up a cult around himself again. (Like, didn't Nurah tell Thesius the demons regularly let 'runaway' prisoners our to feed the ghouls? The ghouls whose leader was just hanging out in his tomb with him?) Anyway, enough talk. Have at thee!

Ouch, Azira. My condolences to you and your SO. I hope you manage to pull through together.

And yes, that's legitimate, Verene. (I'm still pulling for trying to redeem an undead, but it's not a super big thing for me.)

I hoped to give Azira an opportunity to charge in with the righteous certainty, but if not, Verene will just press the attack.

I as a player would definitely like to redeem an evil undead at some point, but in-character this particular one doesn't seem worth the risk that he'll just escape and go on to hurt other people. Non-evil intelligent undead are rare but extant in Golarion as far as I know. (Ghosts don't have to be evil and there are a very few non-evil liches, mummies, and vampires in the lore.) Certainly they're more common than redeemed fiends.

Yeah, that's reasonable. It was just an opportunity (one that's not in the book, so I'm probably a little proud of it). You don't need to go for it. I'm not willing to have Azira start hostilities as a bot - I feel that might do a disservice to the character, especially if others don't want to do so.

I still kind of feel the same way. As far as we know, or as I understand it, this thing is the root cause for the presence of the undead. Since it is either negligent towards or doesn't care about what its minions/other undead do, its existence is a major threat to pretty much all humanoids. The chances of it spawning more undead who then go on to prey on (and thus multiply) and/or spread diseases among innocents is just too high. I think in this case Elliot's desire to protect innocents outweighs his impetous to offer redemption to any given creature.

I'm really sorry though, as it does sound like a cool challenge and story bit!

Does Moxsahbuul look good and dead, or just stunned and heavily injured?

Also, Merixia definitely would not have gone for trying to redeem a creature that feeds on people.

I'm about to start reading through (the second batch of) back posts right now- hoping/planning to make a decision on charging or diploming whatever creature you're all talking about (and a post acting on that decision) before I go to sleep tonight. Though, given Azira's general level of interest in redemption, charging seems pretty likely?

Does Moxsahbuul look good and dead, or just stunned and heavily injured?

Also, Merixia definitely would not have gone for trying to redeem a creature that feeds on people.

Whoops, I forgot to add it to the map. He's critically damaged, but not destroyed yet.

EDIT: I think? Dammit, now I need to math it out. He's either destroyed or in single digits. I think he's in single digits, because one of Thesius' attacks missed.

EDIT 2: Well, with Azira's attack, he's definitely destroyed.

Aw man, I missed my chance! Shouldn’t have stopped to ask.

Quick note in relation to something from your last post and the one about the boar, GM: because of the mythic ability Eldritch Breach, every time Verene makes a caster level check to overcome spell resistance, she rolls twice and takes the better result. Not just against demons. Against demons, she additionally gets a flat +4 to those checks, from the Riftwarden Orphan trait. I have it written down as two dice expressions already in her botting spoiler in her profile, in case you have to roll against SR for her — which no doubt you will sometimes, because I won't know or will forget that it's needed.

Oh, gotcha! I thought it was from Riftwarden Orphan. My mistake.

To answer Verene's OOC questions here:

I recommend using dispel magic, actually. I don't think you had access to it when last you encountered unhallow, but you do now. Upon coming into the tomb, she's able to realize that the unhallow isn't going to fade - it's fueled by something of the desecrated area inside, and needs to be removed magically.

Sorry for the delay. I will be catching up tonight to get a post up. Figured with Thesius initiative, the others were likely to mop things up.

Sorry for you and your wife's loss Azira.

Thanks! And, sorry I haven't made a gameplay post yet... this is going to sound a little outrageous but, my SO's uncle was murdered by his ex-wife last week and things have been a little crazy since. The funeral, which we're both helping with, is tomorrow so, hopefully, I should be able to get a post up like Wednesday-ish.

Jeebus, how did I read over this last week? My condolances! Did they manage to catch her...?

I recommend using dispel magic, actually. I don't think you had access to it when last you encountered unhallow, but you do now. Upon coming into the tomb, she's able to realize that the unhallow isn't going to fade - it's fueled by something of the desecrated area inside, and needs to be removed magically.

Oh! So just dispel magic can do it, we don't need hallow or a special ceremony or anything? Okay, sweet.

P.S. What is the magic shortbow that the archer ghoul was holding? It was mentioned and I see a Spellcraft roll for it, but it was not identified in the Verene spoiler. I have added it and all the other listed loot to the loot doc. Dang, if this is what the archer ghouls had we should have looted the bodies from when they attacked our bridge last night!

Yep, dispel magic should do it normally, I think.

And oops, I forgot. It's a +1 composite shortbow with a Strength bonus of +3.

Azira wrote:

Thanks! And, sorry I haven't made a gameplay post yet... this is going to sound a little outrageous but, my SO's uncle was murdered by his ex-wife last week and things have been a little crazy since. The funeral, which we're both helping with, is tomorrow so, hopefully, I should be able to get a post up like Wednesday-ish.

Jeebus, how did I read over this last week? My condolances! Did they manage to catch her...?

No arrest so far. Apparently the police/DA don't feel they have enough evidence (her daughter actually told a family member they did it but that won't hold up in court). Pretty wild stuff. There was actually a history of abusive behavior that could have corroborated what happened but he never reported any of it because of the social stigma often attached to men being abused by women.

Oh... it's not a special circumstance then? I hate to say it, but by RAW dispel magic does nothing about unhallow. The duration on unhallow is instantaneous, and "The effect of a spell with an instantaneous duration can’t be dispelled, because the magical effect is already over before the dispel magic can take effect."

I see now we did discuss it back when we were doing the Tower of Estrod. Of course, if you want to rule that in your version of Golarion, dispel magic can get rid of unhallow, that's fine, and I will make Verene's next post with that in mind if you confirm it, GM.

Shortbow properly ID'd in the loot doc, thanks!

Elliot, the Red Heron wrote:

Azira wrote:

Thanks! And, sorry I haven't made a gameplay post yet... this is going to sound a little outrageous but, my SO's uncle was murdered by his ex-wife last week and things have been a little crazy since. The funeral, which we're both helping with, is tomorrow so, hopefully, I should be able to get a post up like Wednesday-ish.

Jeebus, how did I read over this last week? My condolances! Did they manage to catch her...?

No arrest so far. Apparently the police/DA don't feel they have enough evidence (her daughter actually told a family member they did it but that won't hold up in court). Pretty wild stuff. There was actually a history of abusive behavior that could have corroborated what happened but he never reported any of it because of the social stigma often attached to men being abused by women.

Oh my god, how did I miss your previous post? I’m so sorry for your loss. Our society has a long, long way to go when it comes to supporting survivors of abuse.

No arrest so far. Apparently the police/DA don't feel they have enough evidence (her daughter actually told a family member they did it but that won't hold up in court). Pretty wild stuff. There was actually a history of abusive behavior that could have corroborated what happened but he never reported any of it because of the social stigma often attached to men being abused by women.

Damn, my sympathies, Azira.

Verene: In this case, I'll allow it, because it specifically does say "until dispelled" in the book, and it feels reasonable to me. I meant "normally" as in "dispel magic functions normally in this context," but I can see why that was confusing.

Ah, understood, GM. I tried to describe it flavorfully in my post in a way that would make the dispel magic attempt reasonable. Hope that caster level check is good enough.

If Verene is unable to dispel this, Elliot will cast dispel through wild Arcana up to 3 times (same cl as Verene, 9) to make sure it is (mp lowers from 5/7 to at least 2/7).