GM Imperius' Skull & Shackles

Game Master bluedove

I was just going with half WBL (62,000/2=31,000gp).

I am planning to Scribe Scrolls a bit still and purchase more fun stuff, since ABP rules.

His Spellbook is filled with his given Spells. I may still purchase a few more though. Yes, Poleihera is pretty good. Have waited for the most opportune moment to try it out.

I haven't finished filling in his Prepared Spells as yet.

He is Caster first, Melee second but he should be able to contribute both ways.

Haven't decided on an eye patch yet.....

Ok. I am caught up on the Book 4 Game Play Thread. Looks like you have been clearing the Island while preparing for holding your celebration gala in a month.

Presumably our characters would be met most likely either at that Gala, or depending on time table, perhaps at next visit to Port Peril to sell/resupply.

Although, being from Mediogalti Island, our characters could have ship wrecked on the Island of Empty Eyes ...

Welcome, Arkhan! Thanks for helping the group keep going!

If I may make a suggestion, Maheen, one of our NPC officers is taking Fargo (the wererat captain) where he wanted to go hide, and will be making a trip back. Considering your character seems interested in the ancient Ghol-Gan empire from your campaign trait, and that we should be decently known around the Shackles by now, you could have tried to seek us out after learning about our island, and met Maheen on his way back.

Not too sure on the amount of time before he gets back, but that should get you here sooner than either the gala or a trip back to Port Peril (as we just took one recently).

Good to see you, Captain! That would also be viable, as yes he is extremely passionate about Gol-Gan historical sites, which your new Island is certainly high on his list to explore!

I hope he will be a valuable asset to your crew! I can't wait to sail under your command, Captain.

Hello again! We do tend to run into one another, don't we? Glad to have you aboard, swabby. Feel free to weigh in on Veronica and Eric's actions if you like.

I'm happy to handwave whatever needs to happen to usher new players in swiftly. No reason to say that he isn't already a member of your crew and has spent most of his time on the boat thus far.

Personally I like respecting the fact that a 10th-level PC is a really big deal (nearly legendary as per Legend Lore), so having them be other notable pirates who come to join us perhaps a bit in advance of the Gala works for me.

But yeah they can arrive like this afternoon in-game time.

Agreed. I don't want 'em as part of the crew - our crew isn't that powerful, hehehe.

I figure once we kill the snake (or flee trying), we're going back to our base. They can be there already waiting for us and we all have a happy reunion! :)

Thanks! He will look for the high sign....

Do we need to roll this fight out?
With Mac having Freedom of Movement I feel like there's not a great chance for the snake to do much, but I may be wrong.

Oh, I somehow missed the Gameplay post.

@Arkhan, the GM has asked in Gameplay if you want to bot Veronica (Magus captain) and Eric (Bard cohort). Interested?

I am not a fan of playing someone else's character. Apologies, but, I will await his formal introduction.

Besides, I still believe we may be waiting for another?

To give you all a bit of an update, things are finally turning around for me, I think. Started a new job three weeks back, it's going splendidly well, and overall things feel more stable and solid.

So I was hoping to try and start getting back to playing, but I realise we're picking up more players due to my absence, and I don't want to either dash anyone's expectations or put more work on our GM's shoulders to deal with more players than expected.

Considering I'm the one responsible for the whole thing, I am willing to just step back into the background if you prefer. It's not what I would like, obviously, but the game has to be fun to everyone else, too.

I for one welcome you back Captain! I think we added two new players, but maybe just one. Either way, with you, that still only totals five, at most. So I see no reason for you to stay away!

And congratulations on the new job!

I would be happy to have our Captain back.
I don't think 4-5 PCs is a problem.

Yes, keeping the Captain was a priority. Happy to hear your work situation is stabilizing and you can relax and hopefully enjoy gaming again. Now if only I can be so lucky!

If anything, I would only ask that the secondary character, Eric, take a step back since he is no longer needed to round out the numbers for combat.

Welcome new folks! We're ready for you in the gameplay thread in case you missed it. :D

Wow, I am sorry I let this linger for so long. Here's my character! He's a 10th level Cabalist Vigilante with 1 level of Red Mantis Assassin that I do not plan on taking any further - he has left the order and is rethinking his life. I have spells figured out. I had specced him out with a Raktavarna familiar, but that sort of familiar is NOT going to be happy with the new turn that his life has taken, so I can either take that loss and finding a new familiar as a roleplaying moment to come, or figure out a new one and start with it, I don't much mind either way.

My sincere apologies but I will not be joining this Campaign at this time. This is our busy season at work and I am in enough games at the moment.

I appreciate the invite and acceptance. Considering I am in a game (or three) with most here, I shall see you there.

Thank you again.

Thank you for having been willing to help us out!

Agreed - and thanks for letting us know too. It's appreciated.

I think we're good with just adding Nil at this point, agreed? That brings us up to four, and we've done OK with three. :)

I think I had mentioned that I had built Nil with a Raktavarna rakshasha improved familiar, who was disguised as the big bejewled sword. With Dorian dropping, who I was going to use as corroboration on Nil's sob story, I think it makes less sense for him to have any other reason for y'all to reject him like carrying an evil familiar around, so I think if y'all are okay with a minor behind-the-scenes retcon, I'll shell out for a masterwork cutlass as his "decoy" sword, and he'll currently be familiar-less, having recently parted ways with his raktavarna companion. I'd still like to stick with the general backstory that he broke with the red mantis when he discovered upon meeting his last target face-to-face that they were a childhood friend or love, he refused to follow through, and that caused him to rethink his life.

I worked up a new familiar for Nil, a cyphergull.

Nice gull!

Does anyone know where have not been yet?

If not, I'll go back and re-read to see what we have left to do. I might get to it tomorrow sometime, this weekend for sure.

Poke?

We're faltering, and getting to weekly posts. Campaigns don't survive with weekly posts. Is there anything we can do to get back on track? Let me know how I can help. :)

Yes, I have had a rough few weeks. Took my SO to the ER and then he was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery and nearly a week long stay. Then scrambling to get my kiddo ready for the school year and driving out of town for post-op appointments. And then some bad luck of not being able to load the boards when I found some time or being too drowsy to focus on an update.

Crisis aside, it's looking like I have too many games going for my current bandwidth. (I was really hoping to have a different work schedule by now but that didn't pan out.) I will continue to limp along but if you guys have other options for GM, you might want to look into them. >_<

In my experience, it is incredibly difficult to find a new GM to take over an existing game. I appreciate you being willing to take it on, and if you can keep going even at a reduced pace I will stick with it.

It is. My conflicts have been more onerous than usual just lately so things will be likely to be improved but still not ideal. I just don't want to overpromise and underdeliver.

Someone is welcome to bot for Veronica's turn.

Hoping to get the combat turn updated today, but needed to clarify something first: Is MacLaren able to cast Liberating Command on Nil if he is Grabbed?
And if so, does that grant him the escape opportunity before the Blue Crab completes it's turn?

Yes, Liberating Command is an immediate-action spell with 50' range (at 10th level). It would happen after the Grab but before any Constrict - at least, that is how I have always seen it done.

Hit -> CMB check to Grab -> Liberating Command -> Escape Artist Check -> Constrict if still grappled

Sorry for the delay on my part, will endeavor to post more consistently.

So in all frankness, the AP expects you to kill these Treants and pillage their grove. Cuz, y'know... Pirates! But given that half the party are Good aligned characters, this encounter seemed to warrant some revision. But the island is small and living in harmony with Treants becomes more tricky the larger a community grows.

But I have an affection for Treants (Ents!) so I'm inclined to make this simpler. Weirdly, there is a vast array of products that can be derived and produced from Coconut Palms and their fruit. I won't torment us all by going into detail in character, though it is an interesting rabbit hole to fall down if you are ever so inclined, lol! So basically the Treants will offer up all the coconut fruit, coir (good for agriculture and lots of other things), and palm frond fiber (good for rope, thatch, maybe even cloth) your party and crew can use if you will agree and enforce that your crew/community uphold said agreement to harm no trees on the island.

If you need them moved for buildings, the Treants can do that. Also possible for the living trees to be coaxed into configurations for creating housing or other structures. We can discuss the ins and outs of this here, out of character to further clarify and simplify things. ^_^

Yeah, I did not envision no trees would be cut down, so we might come to blows in the end.

I too have an affection for Treants, and would make a bargain if we can rather than slaughter him. Plus, having him roaming the island is a great way to keep the dark dank places from growing too dark and dank. :)

I'll try and come up with a firmer compromise and post - but it might not be tonight. Thanks for not pushing the murder-hobo angle too strongly.

- - -

Oh! Is there a nearby island we can go to for deforestation maybe? We are somewhat mobile after all... We don't necessarily need to gather the wood we need here. We can import some maybe.

I'll ponder.

I was going to make a post being a hair less conciliatory than Tucci, along the lines of "Yes, we are going to have to cut some healthy trees, and no, diseased or rotting ones won't work. You can accept that fact and negotiate with us on the amounts and locations of trees to be cut, or we can leave and someone less reasonable can take over this island."

But then I considered that if Tucci wants to be lord of this island, he should set the tone with the treants.

The coconut fruit/fiber/coir solution is great, as is the greenwood solution.

If we do need any wood from other sources, we can trade for it. Perhaps MacLaren can brew some coconut rum to trade.

Keep in mind (as players) Treants aren't like game wardens, simply concerned for the well being of the species population as a whole. Individual trees are as important to them as individual people would be to you. Your characters very reasonably won't understand this and we can RP more on the subject.

You definitely can outsource for wood, and it's worth mentioning that palm wood is not a traditional material for large sailing vessels anyway. I will look more at the ship building rules but I'm exploring the idea of using Greenwood wherever possible. But as they really have no need of resources from you and are willing to provide ample resources to you, I think it will work out to your benefit to compact with them.

This is definitely something that Nil would amusedly think you're wasting time and effort on when the simple solution is life with the ent if you can and get rid of him if you can't, but...if you're going to waste time and effort on it, why not get creative?

I'll be honest that I haven't kept a timetable. I know neither the current date, nor when the feast was scheduled to begin. Just like I don't track experience instead preferring to advance levels based on AP progress, I will generally advance through the book events in sequence and we'll get there when we get there. ^_^

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it doesn't look like anyone needs downtime for crafting. Mostly just a last shopping trip, which I'm happy to handwave OOC or leave you guys to narrate your NPC interactions, etc.

I do need 1) a summary of improvements you have made/will be making in preparation for the feast. 2) A list of who you invited and if possible a line or two about past interactions and where the relationship stands. Something like a Dramatis Personae (friends and enemies cast list)

I believe you were using the Plunder points system, was someone tracking that? It looks like you did everything possible to grant bonuses and reduce costs. If you finalize a treaty with the Tree Folk, I'll figure their aid in as well.

Did you carry out this discussed action?

From the beginning of this book, we had 3 months until the feast. I know we haven't spent anywhere near that time, so we should still have time to prepare. Even if we are not tracking it precisely, we've moved fast and have a lot of time to do further preparations.

We set aside 3,000 GP and also 3 plunder.

It was 3 days from the regatta to port, and then we spent 5 days in port to sell plunder and buy supplies.
From there, 2 days to the Island of Empty Eyes.

We spent 2 days in the fort. Initial battle with the animate dreams, then returning with better spells.

Tasks in the fort:
1) There were passages from B30 that I don't think we cleared out. They go to two other chambers.
2) We didn't get around to healing Ederleigh. Found him dead a couple of days later.

We spent 2 days in Sumitha. Nearly cleared it the first day, but had to fall back and finish it the second.
Tasks in Sumitha:
1) There's a giant trapper that we just left there
2) There are a whole bunch of Bane arrows from the Gargoyles that were assigned to Veronica and Eric... not sure what to do here. Eric used a bunch but some should be left.

We spent 1 day dealing with Bikendi and purifying the fort.

15 days so far. More later.

I'll add we still have 11 plunder to cash out, as well as a fund of 18,300gp for ship /fleet upgrades. You can see the tracking on the second page of the treasure sheet, unhelpfully marked 'Loot by Character'. :)

(You'll see rum listed on two lists. If I remember right, we both took the smuggled rum and paid for it for a diplomatic/relationship boost - but I could be mistaken. We've been drinking the rum.)

I agree with Mac's summation as well. I think there might have been a day or two of off-time as well in there, but we should still have two+ months of prep for the party for sure. And I also remember a portion of the underground we didn't get to yet.

As for party prep, we haven't done much directly. We've been focused on clearing out the island, while our crew (and additions) fix up the fort area for basic functionality.

We spent 1 day in the Sunken Shrine gathering the rest of Bikendi's treasure.

Veronica found hidden rooms under the fort, including one that has a Teleportation Circle likely connected to the one in Sumitha. We haven't explored those rooms yet.

We spent a few days being manipulated into attacking the wererat pirate Fargo Vitterande, though we left him and his crew alive. We spread the story that we killed Fargo. But in fact we spared him and bought the rum off of him. However long it took to get to the Rampore Isles, have the battle, and get back. Tucci was very interested in acquiring the rum. I suppose by his mention of us drinking it we can make sure it is good enough to serve at the feast.

We met Audessa Reyquio and her crew. We established that Fishguts Kroop had gotten the fort's kitchen in decent shape. Reyquio and her girls are looking to open up a tavern. We are fine with that but need to hammer out financial arrangements. They want a share in the tavern, but since that would take a long time to have a bustling business, Veronica suggested paying them as crew for now. We said that for the feast, we would pay them extra to cook and entertain, they can keep any tips our guests give them, and we'll ensure that they are not mistreated by guests or by their old employers.

We spent a few more days exploring the island. I believe the dinosaur fence still needs fixing.

And that's where our new GM came in.

We teleported to Port Peril (a 2-day trip). Brother MacLaren bought components for Veronica to craft things that would take up 21 days total. Not sure where we are on all that.

After returning from Port Peril, we spent a few more days exploring the island. I'd think that Tucci's estimate is about right and we have spent a month so far.

The remaining two months until the feast should be plenty to:
1) Finish crafting the items
2) Repair the triceratops fence
3) Explore the hidden rooms under the fort
4) Maybe cast a Commune regarding Arronax Endymion and/or the rum, but I don't love that idea. Doing some investigation the hard way might be more fun. Something is going on, somebody was playing us, and we want to get to the bottom of it.
5) Clear out the clogged passages from B30 and see where they go?

Obviously we do not need to do it all day-by-day.

@Tucci - I don't have edit access to the tracking sheet, but there's more loot from post 4235.

@Nil - Bluedove noted that you found a minor magical goody of your choice in the Kelp Fields.

@All - I am noticing, reading over this, that Freedom of Movement and Liberating Command are as necessary here as in the tentacle-happy Strange Aeons AP. They get a lot of use.

I'll add we still have 11 plunder to cash out, as well as a fund of 18,300gp for ship /fleet upgrades. You can see the tracking on the second page of the treasure sheet, unhelpfully marked 'Loot by Character'. :)

As I understand it, and I'll qualify that as being "not well" at this time, you spend plunder directly when making upgrades rather than cashing it out. Like using masonry and carpentry supplies for repairs, bolts of fabric for hangings, upholstery, linens, etc. Most info I have dug up has been toward converting it or spending it to increase infamy.

There is a threshold to aim for regarding restoration to the fort but I think I'm not supposed to spell it out for you. =P Going over gets you bonuses, under stacks up penalties. Did you build a dock?

How did things resolve with Bikendi?

I agree you have the time to do what you need. What do you want to do next?

Yeah, I'm totally fine pulling the cash and keeping it all as plunder. Simplifies things a lot and selling plunder was weird.

So should I shift the 18 plunder we just 'sold' back to plunder? That would leave us without the cash reserve and 29 total plunder. Cleans things up nicely if that works.

Next, are we spending plunder on the fort or cash? We've got a couple things we could conceivably sell too - everyone should check the loot list in case there's something you want. Just at the end, we haven't gotten much recently.

Oh, and we haven't built the dock yet, but plan to (how much?).

Building a harbor costs 5 plunder but the cost can be reduced via aid provided by Sefina through her water shaping abilities (-1 plunder), and by a DC 30 Craft check for an appropriate skill. I'll allow shipbuilding to apply here as well as stacking aid anothers onto the best craft roll.

Any exterior structure where you are willing to incorporate living trees or Greenwood with the aid of the Tree Folk will reduce plunder cost. I can see this applying to simple siege weapons and the upper levels of the fort as well. Provided you formalize your treaty. ^_~

Fully renovating to the Fort would normally cost 10 plunder, Tree Folk aid can reduce that by 1 but for further reduction you will need a DC 30 Craft check for an appropriate skill. Here we really need Carpentry, Stonemasonry, etc. You can divvy that cost by level if you chose to leave some unfinished.

Plunder is spent to supply the feast as well and Audessa and her troupe serve to reduce that cost. The marker for success is based on the respect garnered from your guests so some will come from the resources spent to prepare the island and to host the Feast and some from how you handle various encounters during the event.

As to Bikendi: Veronica allowed him to possess her, and so he was able to pass to the dreamlands.

Bikendi smiles as Veronica agrees and enters her body. He begins to move casting his spell in ancient Ghol-Gan tongue, Soon the Dream stone cracks, a wave of energy rippling from it and the shard loses it's glow. As Bikendi is able to complete the ritual, and his spirit passes on into the Dimension of Dreams. he whispers the hoard's location to the captain. It lies in a sunken, air-filled temple just a few miles away, to the south east.

But then just to be sure:

He also listens closely to Veronica in conversation afterwards, to make sure there is no trace of Bikendi left.

As to dramatis personae: that will take some going through.

She proposed marrying one of the officers to cement our alliance and since Veronica already had a very prominent role as Captain, it seems reasonable to hope that Mac might have the lesser-but-still-cool title of Lord of Tidewater Rock.

Then there's Captain Merrill Pegsworthy, Captain Sandara Quinn (who has her own ship but is allied with us), Captain Tessa Fairwind, and I think a few more Captains and other notable personages. Need to review. Will post more later, maybe tomorrow.

As an aside: I actually really like this kind of task, though it takes a great deal of time (especially lacking a usable search function). Over in my Ironfang Invasion game, there's a bit in Book 4 where you have to in-character retell your adventures to date, and so you are reading back over the entire multi-year posting history of the campaign.

Also: with Dorian deciding not to join us, we are at 4 players if Veronica can post regularly, and 3 if she can't.
I realized that Ellie's player is back on the forums and has been a pretty consistent player with me in a PFS1 game. I think it would be great if she wanted to come back.

If she didn't, then I'd probably seek to take Leadership at 11th (since only 3 PCs is a party that is pretty limited in diverse capabilities).

As I was reading back, I came across a pretty good synopsis of our early adventures by Veronica here. There's been a lot since then, of course.

Some notable NPCs for both feast invitations and things to follow up on:
Fargo Vettierande, ratfolk pirate in the service of Arronax Endymion. The whole episode with the rum is concerning. We got a note from Merrill Pegsworthy.

Arronax Endymion: former admiral in the Chelish Navy. We've never met him. According to Fargo he was smuggling stuff in and out of Cheliax, but we don't know if he is for House Thrune or against them. I think we invite him! Want to figure out what is going on.

Roweena Kellet (deceased): a harbor quartermaster in the employ of Arronax Endymion. She managed two of Endymion’s smaller trade warehouses. Had a ledger listing estimated bribes, either to have the named pirates lord turn traitor, or to have their followers overthrow them. Arronax Endymion's name had only a dash, rather than a number. This ledger was to be sent with Corlan, but Corlan and Roweena were killed by Giles Halmis before the ledger could be delivered (we don't know to whom). Not invited because dead.

Giles Halmis: this assassin we defeated, bargained with, and left alive. Could potentially hire him in the future if needed. Not invited.

Zarskia Galembar: the alchemist who hired Giles. We found that she was the leader of a spy ring working for Cheliax.

Tessa Fairwind: She tasked us with hunting down the Chelish spy ring, and when we succeeded at that, sponsored us for entry into the Free Captains' Regatta. Invited!

There were some Calistrians and Norgorbites that we ran into in our "Spy Hunter" quest, but nobody we'd invite to the feast, I think. Strictly business transactions.

Caulky Tarroon: cabin girl for Barnabas Harrigan, we ran into her in Port Peril attempting to "recruit" some more sailors. We let her go, but she revealed that Harrigan relies on Kuthite priests and inflicted some pretty monstrous torture on some of our friends from the Wormwood who weren't able to escape when we did. Not inviting her or Harrigan. I guess it could be a bold play if we did, but I can wait for when the AP has us deal with him instead of trying to force it early.

Tsadok Goldstooth: high-ranking officer in the employ of Hurricane King Kerdak Bonefist, maybe his first mate? He administered our tests to be Free Captains. He seemed to be trying to rig at least some of the tests against us, but I kind of expect that's par for the course and nothing personal. So we'd invite him I think.

Merrill Pegsworthy: We met him at Rickety's Squibs. He christened our ship, as it is good luck to have a real Free Captain do that and we weren't of that rank at the time. Mac likes him as a fellow Andoran, even though Merrill's experience in the Andoran Navy had its problems. Merrill seemed particularly friendly with Veronica. He seems a decent fellow and is well-regarded. Invited!

Sandara Quinn: cleric of Besmara, friend from the Wormwood, escaped with us. We took a prize and gave it to her to captain; I think the previous GM didn't have her sail with us because we weren't at the point in the AP where we were supposed to have a fleet, so she is independent but sort of allied with us. We've talked to her a few times. Invited!

And Lady Agasta Smythee, of course.

So that's six: Agasta Smythee, Arronax Endymion, Tessa Fairwind, Tsadok Goldstooth, Merrill Pegsworthy, and Sandara Quinn, and of course their top officers. And that is in addition the Council, who we are supposed to invite, right? I guess Tessa and Arronax and probably Tsadok are on the Council.

I may have missed a name or two. Does the AP suggest anyone else we might have met? I guess the Master of Gales and the other captains from the Regatta? We didn't interact with them much but it would be polite.

Oh! Zarena Visk, only survivor of a ship that was rammed by the Wormwood during the Regatta (under "news learned later" spoiler). As a nice middle finger to Harrigan. Maybe they'd want to join our crew!

Tagging back in, I've been very busy with the holidays but will post again shortly.

Everything looks good, sorry I have been slow to pick up the thread again.

Are we handwaving the treaty with the Tree Folk? Their condition was nonnegotiable but what you might request from them for the promise of not harming the trees was pretty wide open.

What would you like to cover next in Gameplay?

I'm fine hand waving the Tree Folk, but Tucci plans - in as much as is possible - to abide by their terms.

In exchange, he expects them to aid the island community in accomplishing that goal. Beyond that Tucci is fine with whatever gifts they feel are justified, but he doesn't press for anything in particular.

I'd like to cover the teleportation to a city for supplies for the party and party prep, though that might only be a post or two as we get going again.

There is a ring of improved swimming and a Cutlass +1 keen in the kitty if anyone wants them. If not, we can sell them in town and divvy up the proceeds for a little walking around money. Please check the treasure sheet for that and anything else marked ‘To Sell’. If you want something, just let me know.

We have ABP so that should be a simple Keen Cutlass without the +1, and so a lower value.

Happy to do another Teleport; as that is a domain spell, it is just 1/day for Mac, meaning that it is a 2-day shopping trip there and back.