Volcano's Land - Beyond the City of Light

Game Master Miner Cotren

River opens her clenched hand and a small globe of water floats towards the other elen.

"Water." She says simply. "If you use the knife I will hurt you."

A younger ifrit dressed in simple fighting leathers, says, "She means it. I've seen her kill monsters with her water tricks." The words are not threatening, simply honest. The young el has curious reflective red markings around his eyes. "I'm Drook, and this is Sir Benedetto." He presents the ifrit next to him.

Benedetto keeps his blade in the low guard position he'd adopted. "How long have you been trapped here? Did you see what happened?"

Benedetto keeps his blade in the low guard position he'd adopted. "How long have you been trapped here? Did you see what happened?"

"Days? I don't know. My group and my equipment should be here somewhere, they stripped us when they cornered us - we were trying to investigate things that went wrong in the Temple. As you can see, I am dying. What happened is that something bad was called, invoked, released or otherwise activated. My guess would be that madness of the Moon affected some people here. I know I was. Storm only knows what havoc it brought."

He pulls away from the floating water.
"Thank you, I need real water, not magic. My name is Aisling, of the Storm. Aisling Catalys. I was an agent of The Sky from the edge of darkness. There are ancient texts here, it seems someone's digging too deep into the lore."

Putting away the dagger in his trousers he shows both hands.
"See, no knife." he coughs and starts toward the guards table.
"Let me just drink some water. I'm not a threat. Besides, what are YOU doing here? You're armed, you're not of the inquisition. Or maybe even not of the Volcano temple."

"It is water." River says, sounding confused. "You can drink it."

She looks around, obviously trying to find something and eventually locates a wooden cup lying forgotten under the jailer's table. She swipes it through the hovering ball and offers the now full cup to Aisling, each movement perfectly graceful and precise.

"Water."

"We're here because part of the Temple is part of the problem," Benedetto replies, warily. "As it seems like you found out. What do you mean, you're an agent of Sky, though? Has Sky come back to life in the middle of all this Moon madness?"

Aisling nods to River, moving similarly fluidly, drinking the water in almost one gulp before almost choking after Benedettos question.

"What do you mean, come back!? She never left! How do you think we Sylph kept all our blood powers? It is just that she's wounded and in tears. Everyone is so focused on The Dark and, recently, The Moon, no one is noticing things happening closer to earth."

Returning the cup to River he nods again
"Thank you."

Continuing his earlier thought
"There is a power that is starting to orient everything slowly upwards. Fire streams upward, the birds are more open, powers once forgotten or unknown and new come into the world? We, the sanctified, are fortified by Her children. Except for the one that aligned to the Moon. I'm sad to say, I don't remember parts of the last time interval, but it is fitting I guess that we were captured on Burnday. If you help me find and free my group and get our equipment, I can help. I am trap master, scout, and chemist of our group."

"I shouldn't have said that. I'm really out of it. But just imagine her returning. That is the dream."

Benedetto fixes Aisling with a Look for a moment, then sighs. "Well, we were planning on looking around this structure. It was obvious even from outside that something wrong was happening in here. So as far as I'm concerned, we can look for the others in your group as we're trying to figure things out."

perception DC 25, and roll initiative! If you succeed on the percep or get a nat 20, you are not surprised.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9
Init: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

Nat 20?: 1d20 ⇒ 11 Thought not.
Initiative: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21

River's thoughts have a bad habit of wandering...

perception: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (16) + 21 = 37
init: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22
Ooc: still here
"Beware!"

amatshe percep: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (12) + 16 = 28
amatshe init: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Aisling, you are up first!

Out of the corner of your eye, you see pale eyes above crooked teeth; hungry rat faces chewing on the black fog of your fears; a small swarm of these beasties approach.

anyone can roll a knowledge : planes to ID these

Aisling, feel free to attack, etc!

Bomb: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (6) + 12 = 18 ranged touch
Lightning damage: 4d6 ⇒ (3, 4, 2, 3) = 12
Sneak attack: 4d6 + 3 ⇒ (4, 2, 1, 5) + 3 = 15 can sneak swarms
Ooc:assuming there were enough components to create a bomb, if not, move, hide, look for second dagger
On the phone, sorry

Aisling manages to cobble together an alchemist bomb from scraped-together components from his pockets. The arcing lighting hits one of the swarms directly, and the clump of them immediately drops. They make dry sounds as they fall to the obsidian floor, dead.

A second swarm claws their way toward Amatashe, and before he can act,

grapple check vs flat footed amatshe, CMD 27: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (17) + 15 = 32

will save amatshe: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11

the hungry, sharp rats climb his legs, jump upon his shoulders, and cling to him with needle teeth and hooked claws. Even worse than the pain is the fear - all his small wounds are polluted with toxic fear that drips from the ugly little creatures.

Amatshe loses his turn due to fear

Surprise Round Over. Round 1 Begins!

River and Aisling act before the swarms. This is the round Amatshe loses his turn. Please declare your actions!

Aisling, until you find your equipment, cobbling together more bombs from your sparse materials that happen to be on hand will require Alchemy checks of increasing difficulty to successfully make a bomb for the round. First check is set at DC 23 for the current round. Fail = no bomb, and standard action is used up. Success = use bomb as standard action successfully.

ALL: I don't think a map is required right now -- as long as you succeed in a DC 15 perception check (free action) on your turn, you can pinpoint the 4 remaining swarms (1 attacking Amatshe, the other 3 in different corners of the jail complex, each about 15 feet apart from the others).

KB: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (19) + 14 = 335d6 + 8 ⇒ (6, 2, 3, 4, 2) + 8 = 25

River frowns and two whirling streams of water flow from her hands, before blasting past Amatshe close enough to leave him drenched - but much freer of rats than he was a few seconds before!

No movement. She only sees the swarm on Amatshe.

Alchemy: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (4) + 19 = 23
Bomb in the corner: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (19) + 12 = 31
Lightning damage: 4d6 + 4d6 + 3 ⇒ (6, 6, 3, 3) + (5, 1, 3, 1) + 3 = 31

1 bomb remaining

"This is about the worst kind of match-up for me," Benedetto murmurs as his eyes dart back and forth, taking in the opposition.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

But given he moves after them there might be more in view? If so...

He grabs a flask of alchemist's fire from his belt pouch and tries to pick out a spot he won't be burning anyone who's not an ifrit to hurl it at.

Alchemist's Fire: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (18) + 12 = 30
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 4

Round 1 Results

River successfully dislodges the nasty creatures off Amatshe. About half the swarm is wounded or dead from the powerful blast, but a few fatter ones remain - the ones who fed most deeply upon Amatshe.

Aisling manages once again to make an effective bomb out of the alchemical scraps that happen to line his pockets. (swarm defeated, 3 total remain)

very effective, since bombs are area of effect unlike most kinetic blasts and weapon attacks

Benedetto, at the same time you declare your doubts about the battle, two swarms burst from their corners and latch on to you, hoping you are a weak link, seeking to drain your strength for their own. Your alchemist's fire idea is not bad, and deals some damage as they approach.

***

It, of course, does not work out the way the rats intend, as your immunity to fear means they cannot wriggle their way into your mental energies. All you receive is a few scratches and bites (take 5 piercing damage, 'Detto)

In the meantime, one of the fattened rat-things that fed on Amatshe is slithering quietly on the obsidian floor, looking to get away.

Round 2 Begins! Declare Actions!

2 full swarms on Detto, and one half-damaged swarm near Amatshe

"Does anyone have more fire bottles?"
Aisling inquires while searching the guards corpse for another dagger or flasks of alcohol. Or oil. Flour if nothing else is available. Anything that will butn.

"A few more, can you get better use of them than me?" Benedetto's voice is oddly calm for being swarmed by shadowy rats.

He gets another flask of alchemist's fire out and just pours it over himself, unconcerned about the fairly weak fire.

Fire damage on swarm from last round: 1d6 ⇒ 3 Since it burns for a round

Fire damage for pouring the alchemist's fire over himself, which I figure damages the swarms on him too: 1d6 ⇒ 5

there is also a flask of lantern oil on the guard

"Yes, I can use them better than the average user, I'm an alchemist as I said. You're resistant to fire, right? All efreeti are?"

Dishelved elen raises oil flask toward the paladin.
Without really waiting for an answer since he already set fire to himself, he hurls the oil toward him aiming to maximally splash the oil over the swarms.

"What are these things!?"

Flask oil throw: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (10) + 12 = 22
DM, your call for the effect :)

River sends out more thick streams of water.

KB: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (17) + 14 = 315d6 + 8 ⇒ (2, 1, 5, 4, 4) + 8 = 24

As another swarm is crushed by a water blast, the final blow comes from a woosh of flame as burning oil coats the rats, sending them squealing into whatever cracks they came from. The smell of burnt hair, particularly rat hair, fills the room with a terrible odor.

combat over!

Drook tends to Amatshe, healing his scratch wounds and talking in a calm tone. The oread's health is fine, but he does not respond. His eyes are open, but he does not seem to perceive anything in front of him. He whimpers, still trapped in some dark pit of fear within his mind.

Amatshe hasn't posted in a month, so I will be opting to take the route I did with Zephyr, where the character is in a state of slumber / suspension where they only have limited communication. This is a way to remove the PC from the narrative while still leaving it potentially open to a player's return. This is a spreading 'sleepy sickness' that is affecting many thousands of Hearth's residents. We can exposit more about it later

We're definitely not having good luck with that.

Benedetto shakes his head mournfully when he sees Amatshe's state. "Not another," he murmurs, before carefully looking around for any more threats.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

"Your guess is as good as mine as to what they were," he answers Aisling as he looks around. "We know there's been twisted things showing up around town, and it has something to do with something underground, and there's trouble in the Temple."

"There is a capable group somewhere in captivity here. And my stuff. Your afflicted friend can stay in my cell if you think it is safe enough now. I hope you will not mind me taking some daggers, lady?"

Aisling takes every dagger he finds, riffling through guards pockets and taking anything he can use going even so far as to take the armor if it is light enough.

"What day is it today? I am still alive and functioning, it cannot be more than 3 days since Burnday. But whatever happened, it was terrible. And the rituals I know of might not be the worst ones."

River doesn't seem to object to Aisling's arming himself. He's proved useful now and he seems to use fire, which is an element that doesn't concern her much.

Instead she gently leads Amatshe into the newly vacated cell and coaxes him into sitting down. It isn't much, but better than leaving him standing and staring into space.

"Down then?" She asks simply, closing the door almost completely behind her. "No time to waste."

Drook answers Aisling's question. "Sir, the day is Ashday, and it is Rainrites the 9th."

older players, if you have been keeping track of the date, I've actually moved us forward, and that is purely for the convenience if syncing up with the 2nd table for the current problem in Hearth. I figure there has been time skips along our journey anyway, so it shouldn't be a big deal. We are still in the period after Moon has been driven away from Hearth, and the city is still recovering, etc.

Aisling, this time/date doesn't surprise you -- you've only been in custody a relatively short time, though the horrid thirst / hunger made it seem MUCH longer. Once you account for that, the number of times you saw the change in shifts, etc, the timing seems correct.

His eyes settle on Drook. "Good work taking care of Amatshe, Drook. Keep your eyes open and watch our backs."

He turns his head back to River and Aisling. "Yes, let's get moving."

mini skill challenge: everyone pick 2 skills they think will help locate Aisling's crew / equipment OR evade anything else that is lurking down here. We'll count up successes vs failures and see what happens :)

Drook sits down with Amatshe on the bench. "I'm not willing to leave him here alone. Sir Benedetto, with your permission, I'd like to stay here with him. "

Drook has about 40 points of lay on hands healing available, so Benedetto and everyone, let me know if you need HP back

Benedetto's only down five HP

Benedetto nods. "Very well. Be careful, Drook. We should be back before too long, but if we're not... get him and yourself to safety."

He leads the way further into the structure, moving quietly and carefully to try to spot trouble before it found them.

Stealth: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (20) + 15 = 35

As he does so he looks for signs of recent passage--scratches, disturbed dust, that sort of thing, anything to give a clue as to where is more traveled.

Survival: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (14) + 11 = 25

Perception: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (12) + 18 = 30
Disable device: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (6) + 21 = 27

Aisling watches everyones back, taking care to notice everything on time and disarming, disabling, or lockpicking any problem along the way. Even with improvized tools he scavenges along the way or borrows from others.

Stealth: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (11) + 16 = 27
Diplomacy: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (16) + 19 = 35

River seems to favour silence and sneaking, although when she is caught by surprise by a guard elen her smile and apparent lack of guile smooth over any issues she might have caused.

With ease, you make your way down one hallway after another. Each turn reveals a corridor much like the last, but Benedetto keeps the group oriented while Aisling looks for clues to his previous holding cell. You advance with admirable caution, and you pass by undisturbed (save for the skittering of a rat here and there)

The taste of success turns sour as the smell of death grows. As you approach the only occupied cells, the stench of old corpses greets you.

there is a dead guard close to the cell; he is curled up in a ball, hands over his ears. The keys are on the ground, as if he dropped them in some kind of desperate escape

Benedetto looks over the scene for a moment before looking at Aisling. "How long were you trapped in here again?" he asks. "This happened a while ago... before we even arrived in the city, I'd guess."

He cautiously approaches the fallen guard, looking for signs of more of those rat-things. "I don't know how much hope to hold onto for your companions, I'm afraid."

He stops a moment and shakes his head. "So tired of all the death..." he mutters.

River crouches down and retrieves the keys before gently running a hand across the guard's tortured face.

"What did this?" She asks, although its not clear if she's musing or really asking.

Aisling responds to the paladin:
"Since Burnday. I have hope still, they are a hardy team."

And to River
"Fear, my new friend. Fear did this. Nightmares came alive. Mine was to be buried and forgotten, and to have to kill my friends to get out. Luckily, I was alone. So...still alive."

Aisling, inside the cell, you see familiar shapes. But your mind is refusing to truly see what you see. It must be a mistake. An illusion. A trick.

"No. No, no, no, no." Aisling shakes his head
"It cannot be! No!"

He slams into the bars. Even emaciated as he is now, he cannot just go theough the bars. He rattles them hard, looking in horror.
"No!"

Sliding down in the floor, he makes a sign of wings with his hands, hooking thumbs together and splaying fingers wide.
"By The Prince, I'll avenge you!"
His voice changes as he connects ti divine source letting his spirit soar in the winds of time. "Will cleansing this cursed temple bring peace to them and this town?" he asks The Air around him.

Escape artist: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (5) + 17 = 22 to go through the bars

Ooc: using his augury power; yes, I know it's not standard use 😉

Through some lingering fluidity of form, Aisling manages to slip past the bars. He sees familiar faces...all frozen the pain, disbelief, and death. You find your daggers plunged into your lover's body.

In response to your heart-broken plea, you hear the final death rattles of your former comrades. This gruesome exhalation provides one ray of hope - they all say "Yessss..."

Cleanse the temple, bring them peace.

Benedetto sighs and bows his head slightly. After a moment of silence he looks to Aisling. "Do you need more time...?"

Broken by the scene, Aisling only nods to Benedetto. Locating his alchemy kit, he takes samples of blood and tissue from all of the dead.

He the silently changes into his combat gear, leaving Thristing until the end and pzlling it out with an apology.

His garb changes into a pristley ceremonial outfit not seen in public for centuries and he holds briefest of ceremonies recommending their souls to his patron.

Woth a thought, his garb changes to black and gray cameo ninja costume.

"I'm not leaving this place, until it's cleansed or I join my friends in the sky."

That was a really nice touch of morning ritual, Edmund. Reminds me a little bit of a military camp playing reveille in the morning, combined with a traditional call to prayer. Love the use of hammer/anvil as well for Silver-Bringer.

Albert, are you essentially always in your armor? There's a difference between a Tony Stark (who always has something ready, but also likes to wear slick designer suits about town) and a Lord Iron (who uses it to effectively take action in the world, and as far as that comic shows I think he is never without it)

This answer may answer depend on how paranoid Albert is feeling in a post-Moon world. It's really up to you --- I think you have advanced enough technology that you could keep yourself clean and fed and exercised without taking the physical suit off.

Mechanically there are disadvantages to sleeping in heavy armor unless it has certain enchantments that I did not take. So no, Albert removes the suit for sleep. He'll wear it at all other times, though.

Zephyr, I know we haven't finalized divinations spells yet (and I think we'll just skip the levels where nothing is well matched, like level 3), but for now I definitely want Commune with Birds to be your 1st level spell. Remember that you can use any given spell slot as EITHER domain spell OR divination spell.

There is a feeling in the air, like the winds are open to the questions you might ask using commune with birds.

Zeph, let me know if you'll be able to post today or tomorrow. I have something in mind for the first birds you'll be contacting.

Zeph, let me know if you'll be able to post today or tomorrow. I have something in mind for the first birds you'll be contacting.

It's just about 2pm here and I need to get ready to go to work; s/b able to post around midnight though :)

The Declarative wrote:

Zeph, let me know if you'll be able to post today or tomorrow. I have something in mind for the first birds you'll be contacting.

It's just about 2pm here and I need to get ready to go to work; s/b able to post around midnight though :)

I misspoke (well actually I fell asleep)

I think what I would like in that 3rd level divination slot is a super-powerful Speak with Air Creatures spell: something that would probably provide like 8 hours (1hr/lvl) of communication.

Obviously both Fury and Zeph can speak Auran when they're both in Elemental Form, but it would be good for Zeph to be able to speak to all creatures of the Sky.

I like that idea - 'Commune with Air Creatures' sounds good to me.

Edmund, is all good on your end? I've only seen 2 Gameplay posts in the last month. Just let me know if it's a temporary real life thing - I've found I need a minimum of 3 active PCs to make PbP really work.

Yeah, work has been very busy, I hopefully should be getting back in the saddle shortly!

I'll plan on an update tomorrow morning - Zeph, feel free to RP the results of your Commune with Birds, but either way we shall continue our journey!

Monday sound off - is everyone still good to post regularly for the foreseeable future? I am still very excited about this campaign and these 3 characters. :)

Sounding Off, Sir!

*ahem* yes

I am here AND I have Tuesday off!

I am here as well, I don't think I will be able to consistently post daily to be honest but I can do 3-4 a week I think!

3 - 4 / week is totally reasonable.

Albert, I appreciate the nice spoilerd summary of all your buffs - very useful. Thanks for making my job easier!

Sure thing!

Hope you're doing okay out there, Edmund/FluidSynchronicity.

It's been a solid two weeks at this point since I've heard anything from Edmund, and about a month since any regular posting. He is welcome back anytime of course, but I want to think the campaign as a whole. Two players (two admittedly excellent roleplayers!!) is less than I'd like, simply because if one person gets busy at work/travel/etc, suddenly there is a DM and a single PC, which is never ideal on PbP. Having 3 or 4 PCs total would help with flow.

My question is - do either of you know anyone on the board who would dig being a player in a game like this and has the bandwidth to do so? We can meet interesting characters in this current town, so I'm open to many characters types.

Let me know!

I agree that it will be helpful to have another PC.

I have a short list of people I'd love to play in more games with. I'll PM you.

I agree that it will be helpful to have another PC.

I have a short list of people I'd love to play in more games with. I'll PM you.

I have a few people also, but let's see how Albert's friends respond :)

I've gotten 1 yes and 1 'maybe' (they are waiting to hear back from another recruitment first), which I will take as a positive! I'm hopeful that we can introduce a new player or two in the next week or so.

That's very exciting!

Albert and Zephyr--- for now, feel free to:

1) finish your previous scene

2) RP your morning wake up routine as you please

3) plan with each other on whether you are skipping town and moving on immediately, now that it is safe to travel again; or staying longer

**

I think we will have our new player (hallowsinder) ready by Monday. I'll craft a way to introduce the character into the narrative, and they are free to introduce themselves anytime here in Discussion.

Welcome, hallowsinder!

Hello! Still working on the finishing touches for my character, but hope to get that done over the weekend.

Is the Additional Traits feat allowed? It's from the Advanced Player's Guide. Allows two additional traits.

Sure, I've got no problems with it.

For my second Favored Terrain, I was thinking about nabbing "Urban" favored terrain, as the bulk of her career is set in Light. You changed up the Hills/Mountains terrain a bit, so I figured I'd ask about this one as well.

I also need to pick my lesser Favored Enemy who is at +2, and was thinking that should either be Fey, or if her relationship with them turns out more friendly and less antagonistic, something related to the current opponents who are Elementals if you're still in the place Recruitment was talking about. Would that be a favored enemy type in this setting?

Also, would you be cool with me trading my Fire Affinity for Fire Resistance/Wildfire Heart so I can keep my default energy resistance? Fire in the Blood seems like another thing I would have to keep track of long term.

---Definitely good with Urban as your second pick. Makes sense from your career, and it will be useful going forward as the group is headed toward Hearth (after some travel) .

I think one additional I would make for Urban is the descriptions (ROADS), where part of your favored terrain includes the very well-kept roads between Hearth and Light, and Hearth and Forge (not any other roads, just those official ones, the templeroads)

**
---I think that Fey for you is more of a "my ranger magic comes from this place", and you had the friendly rivalry going on in another Court, but this isn't a place for favored enemies.

---Instead, I like the idea of elementals for sure. I've never formally sat down and done Favored Enemies for this setting, but

a) All elementals I think is a bit too powerful
b) something like 'fire elementals' is too specific
c) so I propose a happy medium -- there are 2 "MODES" or FORMS of elements lets say, kind of a Platonic forms kind of thing

DENSE vs POROUS

HOT vs COLD

DRY vs WET

heavy vs floating, flowing

I think roughly this could be seen as

Group 1 (Elements of Deposition, to use an old chemistry term)
Earth, Fire, Lava, Root, Forest, Rock, etc

Group 2 (Elements of Sublimation)
Air, Lightning, Wind, Water, Rain, Fog, Cloud, etc

----I think having favored enemies: Elementals (Sublimation) would be a good fit, as an archer would naturally be good at shooting down pesky flying enemies. I would also put Moon creatures in this category, so this will be useful in the present as Moon's leering presence warps the very land that surrounds you.

--And finally, a caveat that there are many non-elementals you would not gain bonuses against (Efreeti are fiery creatures of Volcano, but they are NOT elementals) . Fey is another example of non-elementals.

And yes, trading out Fire Affinity that way is something I love to say "yes" to, because the resist fire and the Fire in the Blood work together so nicely. I try to be flexible about stuff like that, to open up chararacter options (to compensate for the restricted races / classes), and I think it ends up working out well. Always feel free to ask!

I have heard back, and we have a fourth player-

Welcome, Slowdrifter!

Since we are early/mid stages of both characters' backstories, I was wondering about having the 2 of you know each other beforehand? It would make narrative introductions a little smoother where you come into the scene as a pair, instead of two meetings one right after another.

I'm also open to beforehand relationships with our current PCs. I'm just listing options so that your creativity is free to run wild as we reshape our table for 4 players. :)

Roger that.

I think mechanically I'm ready to go save for one last question of "what's our attitude on magical item consumables". I've got 500ish gold left, and I'm wondering if I need to save 250 of it to chip in for the team CLW wand, or should have a pack of 3 CLW potions, just for emergencies, and so on.

Hurray for more friends!

It was a busy weekend for me--haven't really been able to/had the energy to check the boards since last Thursday. I'll chime back in ASAP.

Greetings to Chezarina and to Slowdrifter's to-be-introduced PC!

Albert has invested some feats into being able to heal people rapidly for high amounts. So it's up to you whether you want to invest in other emergency stuff. Nine times a day, I can heal people for at least 20 hp as a full-round action (usually much more).

If considering previous associations, Albert is essentially Lord Iron. He was a Professor of the Order of Blood at the University of Alchemy in Light (and sometimes Caith coach). The Declarative has been kind enough to allow me to reflavor many of the alchemist's base abilities to be much more tech-oriented, allowing me to straddle a steampunk aesthetic with early voltaic cells and radio technology.

Hello all, thanks for the invite! Very much looking forward to get stuck into what looks like a great game and world.

My thinking for a character is an undine magus. The quick overview is that she's a renowned warrior and has been fighting in IceFall for a long time, largely as part of a tight-knit trio of close friends. However, this group has disintegrated (not literally) in acrimonious circumstances and she's taken the setbacks personally and considers it a betrayal. Having been put through the wringer with the experience, she has been 'encouraged' to take some shore leave (for want of a better phrase) and has been sent to investigate the happenings in Light, though definitely more as a scout/reporter than an emissary. Earlier history, her magical study and no doubt plenty more will need fleshing out. She's been always been something of a paragon and has largely found things in life to be easy and straightforward in terms of her capabilities and her purpose. At least until recent(ish) events have forced her to confront - or not, she's more doubling down than reflecting - the fact that things can be more complicated than she believes them to be.

As a potential way in I could see a possibility of her having teamed up out of practical circumstance and good sense for mutual aid/defence with Chezarina should they both have found themselves in a dangerous place at the same time. Even with all the likely opinions she has of an ifrit, living as she has for such a long time amongst (almost exclusively?) fellow undine!

Build-wise I'm definitely going the Dex route and will no doubt throw out numerous questions as I work on her!

Glorious!

I am still new to the lore of Volcano's Land, but Light has (had?) several universities for learning and training. The Northern Magerium could be a good place for the undine magus to have trained.

Although Albert is not teaching there, he has academic collaborations with their faculty. In particular, his student Iris has been doing a dual-title between the School of the Woven Spirit and the Order of Celerity. So he might at least know some of the folks over there. He has probably taken some workshops at the Academy of the Bladed Savant over the years to maintain his martial prowess.

That could definitely work. And if she previously studied in Light, it adds to the plausibility of her going to investigate recent deeds there.

Love the conversation so far! There are plenty of resources in the CAMPAIGN tab to inspire you, and keep collaborating as you go. I don't see any questions for me to answer right now, but I am certainly around to answer any questions you do have!

I was thinking about my character being away from Light on a hunt when things went down, and came back to find crazy town and was set on the wrong foot. If she met Slowdrifter's character during that situation, it'd indeed be a good idea to team up and could explain why we're together for the moment.

A couple of quick questions: you mention that undines get a swim speed, what is it please? Is there any penalty to land speed as a result of this? Also, are they naturally amphibious or is this something I can (will, if possible) swap in as an alternative racial trait for water affinity?

I've been out tonight but hoping to have a rough mechanical character sheet up tomorrow, even if it will undoubtedly need finessing. And worth flagging, mostly for awareness, that I'm in the UK so my post times may not necessarily correspond to North America. I've never found this to be an issue and sometimes hit a nice overlap for my early mornings with late night west coast.

--Swim speed of 30 ft
--No land penalty

--Not naturally amphibious, but a very popular undine option is:

Amphibious: Some undines are born with a permanent bond to water. Undines with this racial trait gain the aquatic subtype and amphibious special quality. This racial trait replaces the spell-like ability racial trait.

But I am extra-flexible when it comes to racial abilities and swaps, subraces, etc because of the relatively small pool of races to choose from in this setting. So if you wish to trade "Water Affinity" for "Amphibious", then it shall be so.

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Appreciate the notice of your timezone. I agree that various timezones (I've had a few UK players) doesn't really matter in the long run. Posting consistently and replying to each other in a timely manner works no matter where we are in the world :)

I'd love for Albert and Zeph to continue the RP for the next few days :)

Can we aim to have the big ideas of character backgrounds taken care of in the next few days? I'd like for the two of you to be in this town, having recently fled Light. One of the groups will find you, and we can RP that in over the weekend, or Monday at the latest. Sound ok? :)

Yay for more players!

Thanks for the answers. Yes, that's what I had been looking at - thanks for the flexibility.

I think that should be ok to have things mostly in place for then.

Sounds like a plan.

I'd love for Albert and Zeph to continue the RP for the next few days :)

Can we aim to have the big ideas of character backgrounds taken care of in the next few days? I'd like for the two of you to be in this town, having recently fled Light. One of the groups will find you, and we can RP that in over the weekend, or Monday at the latest. Sound ok? :)

Yay for more players!

Will do!

Very much still WIP and lots more to add from my working document but Luu Sânh at least now has a profile.

So, I didn't realize about the Campaign Info Page, so I've been catching up on that.

Some questions/statements on the matter.

1. Chezarina's using a name of her own devising is a pretty big break from Ifrit culture from what I can tell, so I think I'm gonna move her to Chaotic Neutral if that's alright.

2. No Positive energy spells but also curing and restoration are common? Do curing spells call upon different energies depending on the caster now? So like, an Ifrit CLW potion would be charged with hearty flame or something?

3. Magic items said there were some restrictions? So, to quickly go over mine and make sure they're alright. Cloak of Resistance +1, +1 Studded Leather, and +1 Adaptive Composite Shortbow all seem within the Ifrit wheelhouse. Belt of Incredible Dexterity +2, Gloves of Reconnaissance, Boots of the Cat, Hat of Disguise, Lens of Detection, Headband of Wisdom +2, seem more like Sylph items as they are "misc"?

I love the questions, but they're all above my paygrade ^_^ I'll let The Declarative field those.

1) I like that reasoning, works well for me.

2) Specifically, no positive Channeling so those classes (clerics, paladins, etc) are limited to healing their own species (volcano priests can channel-heal ifrits). "Healing" spells like cure, etc still work on all elens. (I could get into how this works by comparing it to how all elens speak the Common language, and all elens are born on the equal plane, and have similarities like bones, eyes, ears, etc)

I definitely encourage players who want to add flares (healing heat, soothing cold) to their magical healing and/or potions to do so :)

3) Ifrit themed, (bloodied) for the first batch ( you could have gotten these in forge), and Sylph (so very finely tuned, delicate and powerful magicks) for the second batch (so gotten those in and around Light, in the years before Moon came when you were adventuring)

Sheet is pretty much there. Gear need finalising and I need to finish spell selection. A couple of questions follow from this, though the first one is something else.

1) In terms of languages, it says the 'outsider' languages are not available to starting characters. I assume it's fine to acquire these via the linguistics skill? With a university background I think she would have worked to acquire the tongues of the four races and with a particular interest in the planes, would have learned the outsider tongues.

2) How easy is it to learn new spells to populate a spellbook? I'm conscious of the restrictions on magic in the setting but I would like to add some additional spells beyond those gained each level (maybe a handful for each level?). I have an idea for a spellbook that is a 'holy text' of River populated with various thematic (water and cold) spells.

3) Following on from that, what rules are you using in terms of cost for scribing new spells?

4) Are there any restrictions on wands or difficulty in acquiring them? I've chosen the wand wielder magus arcana but this does mean I'd like to have wands to use! I'll make sure items are worked into the background so having them makes sense.

5) Similarly, I'll make sure this is addressed but my magic items so far are +1 scimitar, +1 mithral chain shirt, cloak of resistance +1, pearl of power 1, belt of incredible dexterity, handy haversack, alabaster trapping (which is probably the least common of the above items). Any issues with anything here?

Still writing up background and personality but the main story beats mentioned previously still stand.