GM Harrow’s Curse of the Crimson Throne - AE

Game Master GM Harrow

I hope your trip went well, GM. Audria and Shane are still up in the surprise round, so it may be time to bot them. Has anyone heard from them in the last week? I'm starting to get a bit worried.

I hope your trip went well, GM. Audria and Shane are still up in the surprise round, so it may be time to bot them. Has anyone heard from them in the last week? I'm starting to get a bit worried.

I can only speak for myself, but I'm okay. I wasn't for a bit, combo of physical, mental and social challenges caught me off guard after I THOUGHT things were settled, and to top it off, I THOUGHT I had posted here when I hadn't earlier (Not sure if it was connection error or a user error, more likely the later) when I clearly did not.

Sorry to worry folks, even more so to delay.

No worries Shane. I'm glad you're okay now and I hope you have a restful summer planned.

Shane can move 30' (to the square marked with a purple ring) and get all the conscious enemies with color spray while avoiding his allies. I marked the shape the color spray would take in pink. Shrike will step up and attack any that don't fall unconscious from his spell, but I'll wait to hear the results of the saves before posting that, because if the two closest to her are still up she'll full attack with TWF, whereas if one farther away is still up she'll be doing a standard attack and possibly Up Close and Personal - too many conditionals.

No worries Shane. I'm glad you're okay now and I hope you have a restful summer planned.

Shane can move 30' (to the square marked with a purple ring) and get all the conscious enemies with color spray while avoiding his allies. I marked the shape the color spray would take in pink. Shrike will step up and attack any that don't fall unconscious from his spell, but I'll wait to hear the results of the saves before posting that, because if the two closest to her are still up she'll full attack with TWF, whereas if one farther away is still up she'll be doing a standard attack and possibly Up Close and Personal - too many conditionals.

Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but wouldn't moving to that spot from where I am have Shane risking numerous Attacks of opportunity from two medics and a Greymaiden?

I don't think so? Not if he goes around to the right, anyway. I numbered the squares to make sure. The yellow-marked Gray Maiden is unconscious as of Shrike and Elric's attacks in the surprise round, and you can generally move through allies' squares (in this case, Shrike's) without taking a movement penalty. Second square of diagonal movement in a turn counts as two, but that should be fine as it's still only 6 squares/30'.

Anyway, it's just a suggestion based on the post saying that Shane would like to get as many enemies as possible with the spell while avoiding allies. Feel free to delete the drawings and ignore - I won't be offended. :)

I'm still here and not going anywhere. Just keeping all of my PbP games at a very low burn at the moment, but don't worry, I'll get back to a faster pace in due time.

OH, I forgot Yellow was out cold. Yes going with that then, thank you, Shrike P!

I wasn't trying to overstep by making up a law for Kandru - in my mind, it was some obscure guild-related law with no realistic grounds for enforcement, especially not in an active plague situation. Bizarre laws like that tend to accumulate in sufficiently old legal systems - in one city in Kansas, it's illegal to sing the alphabet on the street at night, in Milan, frowning is illegal, and in the UK, it's illegal to handle salmon "suspiciously," whatever that means. I didn't envision anyone except some of the more eccentric Lawful types (such as Kandru) actually taking it seriously.

I'm safe from being accused of handling salmon suspiciously, since I'm allergic to fish. :D

I also vaguely remember that it's still legal in some part of the UK to kill someone in a longbow duel, or something along those lines.

I'm fine with the made-up law, but a reminder that there are no guilds in Korvosa (except for the thieves' guild).

From page 46 of Guide to Korvosa:
"By charter amendment, Korvosa does not allow merchants, laborers, or tradesmen to form guilds."

Hello! I'm still alive! I've also got a new job that I start on July 14th and is much closer to home, so no more three and a half hour round trips to and from work for me. I'm hoping that soon after I'll be able to catch up and get back into playing Audria. Sorry for the absence, but I should be back soon!

Congratulations Adam! That's wonderful. A three-and-a-half hour commute sounds absolutely hellish. I'm glad you'll be able to leave it behind. Looking forward to hearing from Audria again!

Congrats on getting 35 hours of your life back per week!

Congrats on getting 35 hours of your life back per week!

I think your math's a bit off. It's half that. ;)

And thanks. I'm excited to not just have my time back but to get back into playing here as well. :D

Do we think we're ready to move on to the Hospice, then? I'll make a post declaring that if so.

I've updated the loot sheet and added a tab for Kandru, as well as reworking the colors a bit so everyone should be distinct but legible. Everyone please feel free to claim Jolistina loot - right now it's listed as on Shrike only because she has the magic bag that unclaimed things would have gone in.

Is there a Str rating on the composite longbows, GM?

He casts detect magic on the women and of course on the gear they and the doctors carry.

Any info on these questions, GM?

Apologies, I've been sick these past few days. Will post in the gameplay thread with the answers.

Great, thanks GM!

(Also, hope you're feeling better now!)

Tomorrow afternoon I will be on the road to visit family for 3 nights and some change. I won't be posting much

"What makes a man turn neutral? Lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?" — Zapp Brannigan

(Sorry, treasure made me think of this line :) )

Happy Fourth of July to the other Americans in the group. I'm going to be traveling much of next week, but I think I'll be able to keep up on my phone.

Happy 4th of July!

I know people have been very busy (myself as well), so once everyone is a bit more settled please let me know what the plan for the infiltration of the hospice is.

Namely, which of you will be wearing Gray Maiden or Queen's Physicians disguises, who is invisible or stealthing etc.

"Dr. Nips at Heels, I presume?"

Dr. Butcherbird, reporting to surgery. Dr. Nips at Heels, what is the diagnosis?

Going with doctor as well for Shane I suspect

Kandru will also wear doctor's gear. She's not the best with Bluff, so she may have to rely on a more duplicitous teammate, but I'm hopeful she can still help in some capacity.

Apologies for the delay in posting - I've been helping a friend through a rough patch. I'll try to get better about posting to this campaign.

Okay, are we ready to move on to the Hospice then? If a Bluff check is necessary, we won't know until we get there. Shrike would hang back for Pava to take the lead on any deceptions, for sure, though she might be able to Aid Another.

You'll certainly be the most comfy with a big honking mask :-D

Looks like there is a Grey Maiden armor left for Elric. He can use that and do his best to appear feminine, but the non-proficiency penalties are going to be significant if (or more likely when) we get in a fight.

Alternatively, he can try to stealth in or provide sniper cover from the roof or outside. If so, we should have some way to communicate, likemessage.

Thoughts?

I thought Shane meant he was going to use his magic to appear as a Queen's Physician, leaving the third real mask for Elric and thus not interfering with his ability to fight. Shane, can you be more specific about what you're doing? Basically, I strongly support us not splitting the party. We have no reason to think there will be anything Elric can do from the roof. He basically has to be inside with us to participate. I suppose another alternative besides trying to Stealth in separately would be for him to just wear the second Gray Maiden plate temporarily and change out of it as soon as possible inside.

Or, if we're waiting until tomorrow to enter, we just ambush another set of QPs first, and avoid the discussion. Honestly, I didn't think we were waiting at all, but heading back to the Hospice right away in this group's stead before they close the doors for the night. But, if we *are* waiting until tomorrow in-game to enter the Hospice, GM, can Shrike buy another antiplague through Elric's quartermaster contact? I guess she used one unnecessarily for the second time in a row on the Manor.

I'm fine you heading to the Hospice immediately after the ambush. I assumed you wanted to catch the shift change at dawn. If going immediately after the ambush, the front door will be locked.

Well if there's a shortage of masks Then Shane can go in invisibly or use disguise self instead while Elric takes that third mask sure!

I apologize if I wasn't clearer. I had originally gone for a mask as it seemed an option but if we're short than Shane will hope his magic holds and go in that way.

Probably disguise self rather than invisibility at least at first.

PS: Mind you, NOT Crazy about the save that would be required. :( Fort ain't his strong suit but as I already said 'Sure' I guess he'll take the chance though he ICly will be understandably alarmed at the notion. He's been very cautious of the plague before now. Or Shane could use the mask and cast Invisibility on Elric?

Alright. Let go with Elric in a doctors mask and Shane using Disguise Self.

Elric has some spare antiplague that can help with the save.

Alright. Let go with Elric in a doctors mask and Shane using Disguise Self.

Elric has some spare antiplague that can help with the save.

Works, and thanks for the anti-plague.

Okay, cool. I'm fine with entering the next morning too. Shane, the antiplague is better than +1 — it should actually grant you +5 on Fort saves against disease for the next hour. Wasn't necessary in this case though. :)

Thank you

It just occurred to me: What did we do with the plague doctors and Grey Maidens we ambushed, now that we made such an effort to keep them alive.

We can't just leave them in the street, otherwise they will raise the alarm and everyone will be on the lookout for imposters wearing their clothes.

I suggest that we tied and gagged them, then piled them all up in a cart and covered them with a tarp to make it look like a corpse cart, then deposited them in an empty building - possibly the toyshop where we fought the vampires or the mansion.

we've also missed the chance to interrogate them and get some advance knowledge about the hospice layout and staff, but I think that ship has sailed. I don't think we should retcon too much now that we're already inside.

I did assume they were tied up, gagged and stashed in the abandoned warehouse that is now Shrike's hideout.

Sounds good to me, Elric and GM. I mentioned asking Kroft to arrest them through a house drake message only because I thought we were on more of a timer to get into the Hospice immediately after ambushing them, before anyone would notice them missing. Having taken a little more time to leave them tied up in the safehouse is good with me. Since no one will have discovered them in the alley, we can pretend we are them and just stayed out overnight enforcing a quarantine or something.

So, are we moving forward with Kandru's plan? I'm good with it, though a third person in support would be ideal.

I hope things are going well with your new job, Audria!

Sorry, I'm somewhat stuck in indecision and I've passed it onto Shane so I've retreated into follower mode.

I'm happy with Kandru's plan!

Okay, cool. Let's do that then. If Shrike needs to take damage for injuring herself to get this vial of blood, let me know, GM. She'll tie a bandage (weapon rag) around it before going up the lift so her hand is not still bleeding "through" her illusory Physician glove. Pava's in charge of any lying we need to do and also gets the vial.

I'm good with that plan as well.

Elric has a healing kit, so no need to use the weapon rag as a bandage.

I hope Pava has a plan for our great deception, because Shrike is absolutely ready to just throw hands at the first challenge, lol.

I mean... Pava's plan is to throw hands by surprise. Does that count? :-p

It does if you ask Shrike!

Hey folks, we seem to have slowed down a bit and several people are busy/preoccupied with IRL, and since this is a big dungeon with lots of fighting I propose that we hand-wave the "minion" fights. You're a pretty powerful group, so you should have no trouble taking down the various Queen's Physicians and Gray Maidens, so we can skip these fights and assume you defeat them. Then we can go into turn combat for the more important enemies who might actually pose a threat to you.

Let me know what you think!

I did beef up the minions a bit, but even so you stomped all over them in that alleyway ambush. :D

If it's basically a 'yep, you fight 3 maidens and 2 physicians' kinda fight, then I have no objection to skipping it. If it's a little more interesting, like if the archers were shooting at us from on high while we were trying to prevent the doctors from using splash weapons near their patients... Maybe something like that is worth it, but I trust your judgment.

EDIT

On the map I'm still seeing us in a room I thought had the lift, and without any physicians?

I also trust your judgment about which fights should be handwaved, GM. Though I do think that for me at least, having it be officially my turn in combat can help motivate me to post. And as Pava says, I like the cinematic and tactical parts of combat.

I'm also not seeing an updated map, so I'll just make one roll for Shrike's initial attack and wait on declaring any other actions.

Whatever works best for the group.