Under the Mountain Dark and Tall

Game Master MelvinVorthos

That's rough. I had to quarantine from my spouse recently and it was very difficult. Seems worse if you have kids.

Hope you don't end up getting sick on top of things.

I will plan to not post from the 2nd to the 5th, and can bot or ask someone to bot otherwise. Sound reasonable?

I had a similar experience with a camp I was volunteering at. Wishing you the best.

I have no idea how to run his character as I don't really understand his build. A brief hiatus or somebody else boting are both fine in my book.

My character? :)

Easy - Dex based Warpriest combatant. What is the doubt?

Oh I could probably roll some dice for you well enough, but I'm not quite familiar enough to think of things like remembering how your traits may interact with your crane style feat or your blessings or what martial flexibility feats you planned to grab on the fly to really push yourself into overdrive in a tough fight. Like sure I wouldn't be grossly incompetent, but making a combat post that wasn't just a quick "hmm these numbers are what his melee attack says they are" would take me a fair amount of time.

I'm also happy to take a hiatus next week. If anyone has strong feelings let us/me know.

I'm fine with that too.

Sure, that works for me.

Ok all, I'm heading out of town tonight for another bout of vacation! I should be back next Saturday!

Enjoy!

Glhf

So, where to next? You want to stop and rest for the night? If not, still heading for the river, or did you want to switch towards Pyrsa or Poulion?

Atash has mentioned on Discord that he's good to keep going.

If you want to march farther on (in other words, somewhere other than the river), you do have to make forced march checks.

You could also of course continue exploring the Skirling Pass

I say we continue on our path to the river - Gameplay post coming up.

Awesome. I see that Karti agrees that you should head towards Pyrsa, but hasn't said anything about taking the river route vs trying the main gate (or a tunnel or something). Going to give some time until I get a second on heading towards the river.

Onwards, to the river!

Hey just wanted to add a little bit more info on the knowledge (nature) spoiler from a couple of posts ago. Given that Karti made the check and provided the info, I'll repost the original full text of the spoiler and the edited version below.

The huge tree in front of the church appears closely related to a Gallows Tree, a highly dangerous plant that would strangle anyone who came close and then turn them into a zombie which would fight for it later. It did not appear to have any zombies at the moment, however. Even so, it would probably smash you if you tried to engage it.

The huge tree in front of the church appears closely related to a Gallows Tree, a highly dangerous plant that would strangle anyone who came close and then turn them into a zombie which would fight for it later. It did not appear to have any zombies at the moment, however. It was certainly much tougher than the few foes you had encountered so far. Could you and your three companions defeat it? Perhaps, if the gods looked on you with kindness.

I really feel like this tree is a damned puzzle we need to solve. It's a stationary tree, so hard can it be to take it down, right? Right?! Famous last words.

Yes, well, "smash you if you tried to engage it," tells me it would woop us. I watched Harry Potter, and I don't need to be whomped by some willow!

Was it Evil?

It's not a puzzle, just a passive creature that you can avoid easily. Since you succeeded at a knowledge check, I felt like I should warn you that it was significantly more powerful than a typical enemy and very dangerous to engage. If you were to level up, then it would suddenly become a much more appropriate challenge.

It is not evil.

I wonder if it suffers from "stationary monster", meaning it can be safely picked off from a certain distance.

It won't offend Torvi's sensibilities to kill the zombie producing tree remotely!

I wonder if it suffers from "stationary monster", meaning it can be safely picked off from a certain distance.

You could try and find out! Might want to think about an exit strategy in case it doesn't work out.

Per discord Torvi and Atash have agreed they want to rest, but are split on what location to rest in. Torvi wants to stay in the captured Gatehouse, Atash wants to avoid Elle and search for another spot. I'm on standby to post in gameplay once someone breaks the tie.

Still waiting for Karti and Razaniel to weigh in.

I'm fine with resting at the gatehouse. With someone on guard and us being able to lock/barricade the doors, it should suffice. I doubt Elle can muster an army in the span of some odd ten hours.

I altered the tagline above my profile picture. I replaced the combat map with an immediate map, which shows the immediate area around you regardless of if you're in combat. I put the map of the area you're in now up there and updated it to show what Torvi can see.

I hope not to have to sometimes avoid making such maps during exploration. We'll see how it goes.

In response to Razaniel's question, the shade's image went down the stairs, up the other set of stairs, and then through both creatures. It is not affected by difficult terrain. Unlike normal ethereal creatures, it can't fly up or down.

I agree that it may be too fast. I think it's more interesting if you have viable counterplay to monster abilities, and I think the movespeed currently may make it too difficult to avoid letting the shade go where it wants to. I will consider reducing the shade speed for future encounters on the basis that it may make combat more tactically engaging.

Also, it does not consider 'people' as solid objects? (or undead for that matter?)

Given that it can pass through small cracks as gaseous form, I don't see any reason why it couldn't slide by a person.

Is anyone willing to keep track of treasure? A document of some type with a link to each post where I hand out treasure seems like it would suffice to me. I'm willing to make one that has all the bits of treasure you've gotten so far if I can get someone to volunteer to maintain it moving forward.

If you remind me on Tuesday I can make a spreadsheet!

If you remind me on Tuesday I can make a spreadsheet!

Ok I’ll try.

Here's that spreadsheet, currently up to date I believe. I will continue to track XP for you, so no need to record that. Feel free to change it however you want.

Link!

Karti and Atash, if you would, please try and identify items 2 and 6 on this page and keep trying once per day until you succeed.

Ok, loot spreadsheet updated. I didn't price the consumables, we'll be using those, not selling them.

Torvi and Razaniel each took a MW dagger, so the loot list only shows one.

Torvi will carry the broken warhorn of Boromir!

Query: did the casters detect magic on the horn? Can it be mended or does it need to be made whole?

Karti, are you wearing the beard ornaments of our ancestors?

Someone without healing ability, please claim the Potions of CLW. Afterwards, you can either delete it from the spreadsheet, or add your name in column G. Maybe best to take as many as desired, and just decrement the value in column C. We'll find more of those I'll wager.

Finally, casters please look at the scrolls, except the one of Darkness we haven't identified yet, and claim them to your character sheet if you would please. Afterwards, you can either delete it from the spreadsheet, or add your name in column G.

As an aside, for a Scroll, Detect Magic is all fine and well, but Read Magic is more appropriate, right? Perhaps, one or both of you can add these to your spellbooks?

No, I figured we can either sell them or use them as a gift.

Karti could take one or two of the potions of CLW. Sadly, I seem to be unable to edit the spreadsheet.

There's also the Wand of CLW I bought at character creation. Karti can't use it, but anyone should feel free to use it. It's there as an emergency HP pump :)

@GM: note my questions about the horn? Magic? Can it be fixed?

I will cast identify the next evening and should auto succeed on any identify checks short of items that are borderline artifacts or cursed.

I will also cast detect magic on the horn and will prepare mending if that is applicable.

Karti, take two of the potions of CLW. I will take the last one. Deleting them from the list now.

I have taken all scrolls. My character is build around battlefield manipulation and clever use of bags of tricks, so I will make good use of them. Removed from sheet.

GM, I realized I never really went through and spent the last of my character wealth. Would you mind if I spent some of that? Would primarily be on crafting scrolls for spells I have known already, and the big ask I have would be learning dispel magic.

The warhorn is magical. Anyone who can cast detect magic can also roll a knowledge (arcana) check (not spellcraft, as is normal for magic items).

It can be mended.

That sounds great Atash, go for it.

Hey guys, just a ‘heads up’ that I am pretty swamped with work this week. Updates will probably be more erratic.

I think you could do the water route, but have correctly identified that it's quite dangerous. I really enjoy when players scout out options and make calculated decisions.

You planning on just heading straight towards Pyrsa's main gate from where you are?

Sorry, I started a new string of physiotherapy sessions and it is absolutely kicking my ass and taking what energy I have. The slowness might be a feature for the next couple of weeks q_q

Real life catches all of us at times! I hope the sessions help!

This is definitely a puzzle you can solve by just walking forward and attacking. If you're really feeling stuck, just try something and see what happens.

Yeah we're just enjoying a strategy going in so we're not brute forcing a combat. It's fun to mess around with the defenders and make them have a disorganized response! I proposed a plan of action. It's Atash causing a distraction and confusion and then the rest rushing in, so fairly simple overall.

Makes sense. I just want you to understand that you don't need to execute a perfect response to what you see. I like when games encourage me to be deliberate and thoughtful, hopefully you feel similarly.

Hahaha, we just don't want to have to fight ALL of them at one time.

Now, if we had a Sun Domain Cleric, and we just rounded all of the undead up and PBAOE'd them to death with channels, that would be something!

I will be very busy from Wednesday the 16th through Sunday the 20th. I will prioritize this game, but no guarantees.

Bump

Hey everyone.

Wanted to let you know I will be traveling from the 19th December through the 3rd January, visiting family and so forth. I expect to have some time for posting but... It is completely unpredictable :D

Feel free to bot me as needed!

Travel safe, and have a great holiday wherever you are and whatever you observe!