DM Carbide's Core Emerald Spire

Game Master John Woodford

@DM: Tibearius has 3 squares of movement left. I just didn't want him to get too far from the party.

Are we on slide 3? If yes then which one of the 3 rooms represents the current actual situation?

Slide 3 was an example of light coverage; I'll delete it now. You'll be on the main map throughout.

Won't be able to post until Wednesday. Bot me if needed

@GM: feel free to move us back if I placed the party too far into the room; thx!

Mrs. Book has one more spell so I would like to take on one more room before getting rest.

Hello everyone, based on our GM's post yesterday, we have a wand of cure light wounds with 19 charges left in it... I say we complete the whole level and keep using it as we go. If we run out of charges, then we can consider resting.

What say you?

Well, as a sorcerer it sucks to be out of spells. There is very little she can do when that happens other than carry torches. A peasant could take her on and deck her. And unlike real life, indulging in a little metagaming, these modules rarely inflict consequences on resting unless there is something in the plot that prevents it. So I'm still for one more room and then a rest.

Also tapped on spells. The healing helps, but as we are decreased in overall combat effectiveness with only melee from half our team. Plus we may have to fight on our way back. Again, unlikely but hey :)

I've been short of time to post the last few days because my wife is out of town, leaving me to take care of our geriatric cat (plus our slightly less-geriatric cat and the two younger ones). Since I'm not working from home any more, I haven't had much time in the evenings. Things should be closer to normal by the weekend, though.

Alright I can read between the lines... :)

Vir and Book want to go rest, and it won't hurt Tibearius either to get a new load of spells...

So let's go back to the inn! :)

I'll be away on vacation for the first two weeks in August, and won't be able to put up any game posts--we're camping, so I'm leaving my laptop home.

We can fall back from the door if someone can come up with a way to get through. If we are all willing to pitch in for a scroll of knock, that might work. Or we could dash the hole with alchemist's fire and see if we can get it to burn down.

...or we can explore the rest of the level before getting overly creative? failing that I would prefer a well-placed sleep spell instead of burning things in enclosed spaces... ;)

We are also on the road the next week so posts will be sporadic

Sure we can go explore but in the end we will have to deal with a barred/locked door with a murder hole in it. A sleep scroll is a nice idea, though with a DC of 11 it is not likely to work. Does knock work on a barred door? the spell saus it does not raise barred gates, but I'm not sure if that is the same thing.

Charm would be another option. Line of sight is an issue. Viridian could summon a mite but has two issues: would need to have LoS into the room . And is a LE summons. Viridian is LN but generally would not want to utilize evil to fight evil in respect to others in the party.

we're level 1 and we don't have any idea who or what is beyond that door right? i really want to explore the rest of the level first guys; thanks

Back from camping, car mostly unpacked, laundry mostly done, and mostly caught up on sleep. No signs of COVID so far, despite at least one tertiary contact. (There were several thousand people at the event, and even though most of it was outdoors there's still a risk.)

Speaking of which, a friend who was at GenCon tested positive a couple of days ago, so if you were there you might want to test yourselves.

Some of our friends from the West Coast got hit by Covid as well... they say they have next to no energy this time, barely able to feed their kids and head back to bed! it's their 3rd time getting Covid too...

About this game: are we close to the end? this feels like it's been dragging for months now...

This is the last fight of any significance for the level; there's one more down the stairs, but it's pretty trivial.

I chalked the recent slow pace up to inertia after I was gone or limited in posting for over two weeks, and my return coinciding with the start of school in the US. I'll try to keep things moving forward to wrap up the level.

Thanks, and much appreciated!

Definitely- thanks so much. Stay healthy :)

About leveling up, do the team has plans?

I can either continue as a bard or switch (as an half-elf) to a few levels of Rogue, as I said earlier

Unless you have a feature you really want from the other class, it is better not to switch.

What would be your goal in multi-classing to rogue? Is it worth giving up 4th level spells at 10th level, dirge of doom at 8th, and setting back your inspire courage?

I could see it if you wanted to do melee and really wanted the rogue ability to add dex to damage or something like that.

So I guess it really depends on what you are after and how much you want it.

It's more about the traps we will meet, I don't think anyone of us can disarm traps so far

It's more about the traps we will meet, I don't think anyone of us can disarm traps so far

I wouldn't worry about this. Also, in Core, the rogue is a horrible choice.

I could see it if you wanted to do melee and really wanted the rogue ability to add dex to damage or something like that.

The Core rogue does not have this ability.

I have a core rogue, but he's a multiclass elf Ftr1/Rog4/Sha2 at the moment. When he power attacks with a curve blade from a flank or from concealment, he does almost as much damage as a fighter, and he'll do more once he gets Vital Strike. I wouldn't recommend a straight rogue except as a demonstration of player skill.

ETA; he was also one of three characters who survived the [REDACTED] room in Bonekeep Level 2. The other two were a Mnk7 and a Rog6/Clr1.

I had planned to pick up rogue levels but tbh an archer that needs to be up front to spot traps is not the best idea. I could be in the second row and still have a good chance at spotting traps before we encounter them.

Will rebuild after this to half-elf.

He he he... sticking with cleric all the way for this one! ;)

The Core cleric and the various domain powers from the Core book has not been beat by the other books IMO...

So yea, I'll dip 2 levels of Rogue. Level 2 rebuild to Fighter 1/Rogue 1 still gives me point blank shot and precise shot. Evasion and Trapspotter seems more important then Rapid Shot so probably Rogue at 3 then Fighter the rest of the way.

Did we return to the hellknight town and are we returning for the next level? Trying to figure out if we are supposed to level up or if this is a contuation of the same level.

This is a continuation of the same level--the last encounter is the two creatures put there by [REDACTED], and after you take them out you'll get chronicles for the first level.

It sounded like you went out to loot the chief before taking on the last encounter, in case he had anything useful (like a bow that Joseph could use to get his STR bonus with arrows, say).

Oops - what post? Where?

Viridian, this is the Discussion thread. You can keep that roll for the cure, though.

I agree, we would have gone out to pursue the chief. It was just the line about returning him to the authorities and also returning to the spire that had me confused. So, did we hand the chief off in town before we reentered or after? Either way is fine with me, but I'd like to know if we are dragging along a trussed up enemy.

Mrs. Book will be using her prestige to get a wand of magic missiles and a wand of infernal healing. She will not be participating in a land grab.

Don't know if you want to put these on the chronicle sheet or not.

Tibearius will go for the land grab business, since he worships the goddess of travel, and since the only reason I built this PC is to do consecutive Emerald Spire levels. :)

Sorry I missed the post regarding land-grab. Was that a question for each player on chronicles or other?

There's an option to spend Prestige for land; I'll post a copy of the map and breakdown later today.

HERE'S a link to the land rush template sheet. Each hex costs 2 Prestige, and (after the first) give some benefit. If you have a character with a Day Job skill, it's eventually worth it.

Speaking of Day Job rolls, for your chronicles I need:

Player Name
Character Name
OP #
Faction
Day Job Roll (if any)
Advancement (Slow/Normal)

Player Name miteke
Character Name Mrs. Book
OP # 141936-22
Faction Grand Lodge
Day Job Roll (if any) librarian: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19
Advancement (Slow/Normal) Normal

Special: 4 PP spent on a wand of Magic Missiles and a wand of Infernal Healing.

Player Name GMAarvid
Character Name Viridian Torr
OP # 9884-13
Faction Grand Lodge
Day Job Roll (if any) None
Advancement (Slow/Normal) Normal (had 1 XP prior to this one)

Will do the land grant...

Player Name PDK
Character Name Tibearius
OP # 4456-25
Faction Grand Lodge
Day Job Roll (if any) --
Advancement (Slow/Normal) Normal

Will also do the land grab.

Player Name: Edward McGee
Character Name: Joseph Hanlon
OP #: 145373-26
Faction: Silver Crusade
Day Job Roll (if any) [craft?]d20 +5[/dice]
Advancement (Slow/Normal): Normal

I forget if Craft can be rolled for Day jobs. I'll be spending 2 prestige on the land grant and the other 2 on a bow.

May not have time to level up until Sunday.

Player Name Lil"Eschie
Character Name Corbrae Illynel
OP # 133884-20
Faction Scarab Sages
Day Job Roll (if any) Perform, Sing: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25
Advancement (Slow/Normal) Normal

Will take the Land rush, as I worship Abadar, planning to go to hex G (Booming settlement), probably following that path: A-B2-B3-E-B4-F-B6-G. But that's long term planning (8 levels)

Skills for L2: (9)
+1 to Diplomacy, Perform Sing, Perception
New skills Linguistics +2, Perform Oratory, Know Local, Know History, Know Religion

I haven't reported the scenario yet, because Corbrae is not showing as a Core character, and there's something odd about Viridian's number--when I enter 9884-13 in the reporting form, I get Ecthelien the Grey. IIRC Tyranius can fix the character type, but I don't know how to correct Viridian's number.

A year or more ago there was some mixup on my account with core vs standard.

Sorry about that. This should work for Viridian:

9884-15 PFC

You can always report it now with what you have and edit the reporting later if/when the respective players fix things on their end.