DM Voomer's Age of Ashes

Game Master Voomer

Also, clarifying how the requirements are intended.

I am seeing lists separated by both comma and semicolon. I think the commas are to be read as 'or', and the semicolon is to be read as 'and'.

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So example:

Requirements Crafting (master), Medicine (master), or hired medic; organized specialists

PC needs any one of Crafting(master), Medicine(master) or to hire someone from town who is. And will need to get additional specialist hired crew help from NPCs.

Another example:

Requirements Religion (master); Crafting (expert), or hired stonemason; organized specialists

So PC needs Religion(master). PC also needs either Crafting(expert) or to hire an NPC who does. And the job requires specialist NPC hired crew.

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But that isn't the only possible way to read those, so I am checking.

That is correct! Usually you only need one person directing things, some of the more complex things like the shrine require a magical specialist in addition to a construction person.

Couple more questions regarding citadel stuff for the two of us with Familiars.

1) It looks like Lisi is not trained in Crafting. If Guba is given Skilled(Crafting) and Speech/Telepathy would that qualify to let Lisi and Guba together take the lead of tasks that only require trained proficiency in crafting?

1b) A bit more of a stretch, would Sulee be able to do the same and work with one of the other PCs such as Yasami or Oren?

2) Would Skilled(Crafting), Speech, and Second Opinion allow the assistance bonus (+1) to downtime activities such as this?

I think it's pretty funny that Guba would become a master crafts-plant for a time, and then Lisi could remove that ability! Such is the life of a leshy familiar.

However, aren't most of these out of our range for a while? Lisi is only Trained in skills.

Yeah, you probably have only one expert skill at this point. And it probably isn't crafting. For those expert crafting tasks we will probably have to hire specialized help in addition to the work crew.

Caiten does have expert crafting, but that is only one character.

1.) I'm not super well versed in all the details of familiar abilities and the Nyquil is kicking in too fast for in depth research atm lol. If Guba or Sulee have proficiency ranks in crafting equivalent to expert / master then sure. Otherwise no.

2.) I'm fine with those granting a +1 bonus.

There are folks in town who count as experts in the various things you need. Fadelby Vusker is a woodworker for example, and you can meet others as needed easily enough.

1.) I'm not super well versed in all the details of familiar abilities and the Nyquil is kicking in too fast for in depth research atm lol. If Guba or Sulee have proficiency ranks in crafting equivalent to expert / master then sure. Otherwise no.

No rush. It will be a little while before it becomes important anyway.

That is sort-of what Skilled ability does - but only up to trained proficiency.

A familiar can't make Strikes, but it can use trained skill actions for skills for which it adds your spellcasting ability modifier.

So they can use the trained-only actions for some skills.

Choose a skill other than Acrobatics or Stealth. Your familiar's modifier for that skill is equal to your level plus your key spellcasting ability modifier, rather than just your level.

They get trained-equivalent for Acrobatics and Stealth automatically and additional ones can be gained with Skilled. Though the bonuses aren't quite as good as a character actually trained in the skill.

It is vaguely equivalent to the Human ancestry feat Clever Improviser.

Joran has Crafting (stonemasonry). :) Not an expert in it though. Once I get through the rules of the Citadel, there's always an option for upgrading Craft next level. Hard to want to put an "Expert" tag next to crafting but it's a thought. *shrugs* No idea. Will see. Might be cool.

I still feel that there is a letter that Cev could write to the Temple in Kyonin to ask that a detachment of protectors be assigned to the citadel & gates, under Cev's command. I think if Cev told his story to a commander in Iadara, they would at least want to investigate. The party's claim to the citadel is inviolate, but it doesn't mean that a detachment of Elven Warriors couldn't help or be a shot in the arm.

Our team clearly needs to go to whereever Renali is from down in Mwangi. We need some trained leave-behinds to help with that. Not saying the goblins and whatnot won't help, but we need some lieutenants.

Just a thought.

Food for thought regarding Cev's idea: Kyonin is 200 miles away so it'd take quite some time for the message to get there, a decision to be reached, and anyone they send to arrive.

Cev is right in that they absolutely WILL want to investigate. Alseta's Ring is one of the original elf gates, after all -- the destroyed portal used to lead there.

But when they find a ragtag group of 'heroes' claiming ownership of the Ring, stationed in a little boondock town? Well, who's to say the elves won't decide they need to step in and be in charge of their own ancient gate?

Will the town and ring of portals be under heavier guard? Yes. Will they stay under your authority? Hmmm...

I debated the timing, since technically you hadn't dealt with the golem and everything but now is as good a time as any.

Once you return to Alseta's Ring and make sure the golem isn't going to be a bother to anyone, you have completed Book 1 of the AP. =D Yay!

Which means...you are now Level 5.

So get around to that at some point while folk are RPing and carousing. I'm having so much fun with you guys in this game, and I'm 95% better now so the weekend's slowdown while my brain cooked with fever has passed. *Cracks the whip* Bring on the "27 New Posts" notifications I'm used to ;)

Joke's on you. I have a few days off until the end of the week. So I will get to posting first thing in the morning. Right now I am on my way to celebrate a friend's daughter being born (almost 4 kgs what the hell?)

Doubt I will be in a state to post when I get home.

Today has been stupid crazy-busy. Tomorrow is looking worse. We will see how things go after that.

So I may be relegated to evening posting too - like a lot of the rest of you.

and yet for me, today is my birthday, so I will post like a crazy person ;)

5th Level!!!

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday, bud!

happy birthday!

Oh good grief, Dario.

ROFL!

Happy Birthdayyyy!

Ooh, new spells to choose! Curse of Lost Time works well against golems!

Happy belated birthday!

So much celebrating these days! I LOVE it!

If someone had a moment, I wanted to do a presentation of the barghest head to Kellen post ... but I am not aware if we are able to pay him back yet. I will roleplay it, of course, but I just wanted our staff accountant to let us know where we stand. Thank you!

Level five. Might as well put that out there.

Cev, yeah, I will go to hand over the head with you. Before it starts to smell.

Dario is all upgraded and good to go.

Where's Oren, by the way? Been a while since I saw a post.

Anyone heard from him?

If someone had a moment, I wanted to do a presentation of the barghest head to Kellen post ... but I am not aware if we are able to pay him back yet. I will roleplay it, of course, but I just wanted our staff accountant to let us know where we stand. Thank you!

... but really tho ... what's the 411?

Not entirely sure what 411 is referencing.

As far as paying off the cost of the poison, we won't know the remaining balance until you deliver the head and talk to Kellen again.

So it might be best to play that scene out first and then we can take care of accounting afterwards.

411 = information
The question was whether we have the coin or not.

Where's Oren, by the way? Been a while since I saw a post.

Anyone heard from him?

Oh hi! I'm doing fine, I've just been busy over the last few days. I feel a bit bad about it, since I wasn't able to get a response out to Dario earlier.

Yasami wrote:

Where's Oren, by the way? Been a while since I saw a post.

Anyone heard from him?

Oh hi! I'm doing fine, I've just been busy over the last few days. I feel a bit bad about it, since I wasn't able to get a response out to Dario earlier.

Oh, cool. Thought you got snowed in again or something. Was just curious whether we should slow down the pace.

And you can still join the chronomancy wizards and just do that now.

Caiten and Sulee updated to level 5 on profile now.

And Sulee is absolutely enormous. She still looks like she is made of wood, but she is nearly as tall as Caiten is.

Man this made me think of Hook, when Tinkerbell gets to be big for a minute, lol. =D

Caiten wrote:

And Sulee is absolutely enormous. She still looks like she is made of wood, but she is nearly as tall as Caiten is.

Man this made me think of Hook, when Tinkerbell gets to be big for a minute, lol. =D

I spent about 25 minutes looking for a gif or clip of that scene from Hook.

Couldn't find one though :(

What matters is our brainwaves are aligned, lol.

DM Fern wrote:

Caiten wrote:

And Sulee is absolutely enormous. She still looks like she is made of wood, but she is nearly as tall as Caiten is.

Man this made me think of Hook, when Tinkerbell gets to be big for a minute, lol. =D

I spent about 25 minutes looking for a gif or clip of that scene from Hook.

Couldn't find one though :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLwM0OX3NUQ

Yup. That one.

How would you guys like to handle the next bit --RP or some hand waving? Minor spoilers, but Alak's ring will 100% tame the golem guarding the Ring, so there is no threat there. There's been some amazing RP during the festivities, so you're welcome to keep it rolling as you administer your new castle and organize labor amidst the goblins and Breachtons, or we can just do the rolls for that stuff and fast forward to you guys at the Ring ready to see what happens when you open it.

Entirely up to you all. Don't want to rush folks, don't want to bore folks either.

I would think actually a mix of both.

Chronography is fairly long-term here. From what I am reading and thinking, we are meeting up and going down to the lower level again to make sure that the golem will accept us and investigate the state of the portal. Then we have quite a bit of downtime to get the citadel in at least a functioning order.

I would recommend: Having discrete RP moments during that time and handwaving the rest with rolls and summaries.

Fern, you might pick a couple of noteworthy events and announce which characters are there for it - which may be all of us for things like meeting the golem and investigating the portal, or may be only a few for something like meeting with Warbal and Helba and deciding where they are going to stay permanently, or meeting with the town council to finalize ownership of the citadel. Things like that.

The rest of us can also pick a couple of noteworthy events to actually role-play out and we can decide among ourselves which of the characters are there or not. Again it could be all of us for things like the first major cleaning of the junk out of the citadel, or only a few for things like meeting up with potential skilled workers to hire, romantic meetups, night time visions, sight-seeing of Breachill, or whatever else we come up with.

The main benefit of this is that we don't have to all be waiting on each other in order to get things put out there. We are all experts in chronomancy at this point, so having three or four timelines being posted intermixed shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Fern, you might also put an IRL time goal for us to get all of our downtime RP in. Such as having everything done by Monday night and Tuesday morning we start on the next major adventure.

I am fine with a mix of things, really. The group planning on grabbing the goblins, a short montage of things, and then us being at the portals ready to go and kick ass return Renali home.

The bit about downtime is the question, really. You guys don't have to sit in town while hirelings clean the place and stuff, and you can leave instructions with Alak on how you want the place to progress, and have him administer things if you want. I wasn't sure how involved you all wanted to be with the initial repairs and stuff, and if you wanted to just scamper off into the unknown =D

I'm wanting to do at least the basics of it.

Spend a few weeks here getting things cleared up and settled. Would feel like a good resolution to the last adventure. It also makes for a good lull in the plot that makes the adventuring feel more adventurous.

I am down with Caiten's suggestions.

I just got home from closing, but I'm here and awake and posting ;)

For me, I would say BOTH.

UPDATE: clearly not all that awake or able to post, but more in just a sec when my coffee is ready ...

Welp, I'm tired too and misread that as "when my coffin is ready"...very dhampir of me :P

Welp, I'm tired too and misread that as "when my coffin is ready"...very dhampir of me :P

The Queen did kinda try to overshadow my birthday, so I see where you got that. Thankfully we went the whole day without anyone mentioning it is also International Talk Like a Pirate Day ;)

Sorry about the unintentional metagaming. That slip-up is on me.

Maybe I am reading it wrong, but I think the door golem is speaking common.

Well, if it is common, you may all ignore the strikethrough formatting.

It's common, I honestly just didn't end up finding time to reply to Caiten's first post with questions, and answered Cev's lore stuff because it was mostly copy/pasted info. So the delay was my bad ooc and I was explaining it IC as processing time lol.

Alright then. Fixed. Not being greedy or anything, just a healthy dose of curiosity.

Thanks for clarification!

I'm sincerely hoping one of you artistic types comes up with a sigil to post on the party slides that gets engraved on all of the rings we make for accessing the portal room.