☠ Season of Ghosts w/ DM rainzax ☠

Game Master rainzax

Fair enough!

We have family visiting this week. I expect to be able to post daily, but not necessarily at predictable times on Wed. and Thurs. Feel free to bot if needed. There are instructions at the bottom of my character sheet.

Is Mo Douqiu still hidden?

Yes.

And still Yes.

There is a Red Circle on the Map which indicates the "hole" he is likely looking to escape from!

Apologies I fell behind a little bit here, and didn't keep to my per-day posting. Family visiting from out of town and work/other-life getting chaotic combined in a way I didn't quite expect :D Will catching up and post tonight.

Kazuki, check your PMs…

Kazuki, check your PMs…

Whoops! I'm really bad at checking my PMs.

Kazuki's carefully aimed arrow flies through the air with lethal precision, striking Mo Douqiu's neck and severing the jugular vein. Mo Douqiu's eyes widen in shock as a crimson spray erupts from the grievous wound. Time seems to slow as he grasps at his neck, the life draining from his body. Within moments, he collapses to the ground with a resounding thud, the finality of Kazuki's fatal shot leaving no doubt—Mo Douqiu is dead.

In my head, Mo Douqiu's long neck is undulated like a snake, and Kazuki's arrow goes right through two loops of it, piercing the jugular multiple times.

Well done team.

I will transition us to the final Influence Encounter of Book One with your choice of leader.

Then we will tend to some between chapters business (GM feedback, etc) and move into Autumn!

Just as a point of order, Lan should have triggered a Reactive Strike from Mo Douqiu, and there's a chance that he's Dying. We can handwave if it's unimportant, but I didn't want GM to forget about it.

Mo Douqiu prioritized fleeing and remaining invisible so…

There's a little time before this occurs, but it's a longer time away so I didn't want to spring it at the last moment.

I've got a trip from 7/31 to 8/12, and for much of it I won't have internet access.

Final reminder. It's a bit of a long one.

Hey gang.

Going to put this game on recess for one week.

See you around August 6th!

When I get back, we'll roll our final Influence encounter, do some GM Feedback, and then immediately enter Book Two with some Downtime (with the monsters dispersed for now, it's time to rebuild Willowshore...)!

Questions:

Will you be handing out PFS Chronicles for this game? If so, will you do it at the end of every book, or at the end of the whole AP?

For GM Feedback, is there a template that you'd like us to use, or is it pretty freeform?

Per Book (if that is okay), and I have a "template" which of course you can use or ignore and substitute your own.

Headed to Gencon, and not bringing internet, so chances are thin I'll check in before Monday.

=)

Cheers!

It's unclear to me how Rejuvenating Flames will play out mechanically, so I'll just outline principles and GM can decide how this plays out.

Lan's goal is to get Gimmy to truthfully admit whether he is an ally or not. The threat is that Rejuvenating Flames will heal allies and hurt enemies, but that threat could be the truth, or it could be deception.

I don't know how "allies" works mechanically, RAW. If Gimmy says he's an ally, but Lan knows he would be hurt by the flames, Lan wouldn't intentionally hurt Gimmy, he would say something along the lines of, "You passed the test." If Gimmy says he's an ally, and Lan knows he wouldn't be hurt by the flames (whether he's just neutral or healed), Lan will include him in the healing cone. If Gimmy admits he's not an ally, Lan won't attack him, but he'll work on some kind of oversight program so that Gimmy can't cause more trouble.

Getting back slowly while I await my plane low tech. Let’s deal with Gimmy, then move onto the Influence round with the Leader, then continue from there.

And can someone please bot Vekka while he is away this week?

=)

I'll do it, though I may ask for input if I am unsure of what he'd do.

Need a little time to search the Gameplay thread and recover the completed bits of Influence rounds from previous interactions.

Then I will set up the Influence with Old Matsuki.

(He was the Leader we chose if I remember correctly...)

I think you're right.

Looks as though we left off: Here

And here is where we stared discussing Old Matzuki's influence in the Discussion tab. Looks like we agreed on numbers 2, 3, 4, & 5.

2) What are his other Influence skills?

3) Once you have the either of these lists of skills, their difficulty order.
4) What Resistances does he have, if any?
5) What Weaknesses does he have, if any?

Influence Skills (2), in Difficulty Order (3):

Willowshore Lore (to understand and share stories of the “good old days”)
Alcohol Lore (to share opinions about favorite drinks)
Diplomacy or Society (as above but more generic, less specific info)
Deception (far from a fool of a man, unless he is drunk, he can tell when someone is lying to him)
Intimidation (perhaps years of dealing with Granny Hu have hardened his resolve against bullies)

Resistances (4) and Weaknesses (5):

Old Matsuki disdains appeals asking him to trust the younger generation. Utilizing such themes in conversation increases the DCs for all Influence attempts with him.

Old Matsuki has great appreciation for fine food and drink. If the PCs ask to speak to Matsuki over a dinner they prepare (and succeed at a hard Alcohol Lore or Cooking Lore, or very hard Crafting check, as well as an expenditure of fine ingredients, to impress him), all Influence attempts made against him for up to several hours after the meal concludes gain an item bonus to the check for all who participated first-hand in the making of the meal.

Sorry i haven't posted in a bit. I've been feeling under the weather the past few days.

Kazuki is more than pleased to try cooking up some fine cuisine with his teammates!

He borrows a net from the fishmonger to catch freshwater eel from the river for sushi rolls!

A fine cooked victory meal. Sigurd will help.

Can Sigurd can use his Crafting skill?

Crafting and Tea Lore, yes. Hold off on rolling until after Round One - that is when Shou will make his judgement of your food!

Going to move forward with the cooking idea, and get us set up later today.

Trying to think of how Auntie Wu would contribute (without metagaming). She would assume he wouldn't care for her harsh, cheap alcohol or her special tea. She might consider adding some herbs to boost his health, which I would interpret as a Medicine check, probably super-hard because it would be tricky to get those herbs to taste good. Or she could try an un-trained aid to someone else's efforts. Thoughts?

I'll look at Vekka's character sheet next to see what he would do.

Edit: GM beat me to it. He'd be our head chef and tea master.

I'll allow Auntie Wu to Aid with her Nature skill to represent her "harsh, cheap alcohol or her special tea"!

=)

Thanks! (Hehehe!)

Finally got back on top of my house chores post-conference enough to break away and post the Influence encounter with Old Matsuki - typing it up now!

Edit: Quick point of order. Going to roll Round One first. Then, we will "pause" to roll those cooking checks which will determine the total number of rounds. Then, we will proceed with the remaining rounds.

=)

I assume we've had time to Refocus once or twice, but have we had time to rest and regain spells?

Also, I don't see Crafting on the list of skills. Is that because we're just talking now, not cooking yet; and it will be added later?

Rolling the Crafting check after Round One!

And yes you have had time to rest as much as you like - we “slow down” here a bit…

In that case, can we prepare new spells? I think if Auntie Wu knew they were going to cook for Old Matsuki, she would prepare spells to help with that, such as Enhance Victuals.

Yes.

That will count as a Synergy.

Skill challenge within a skill challenge. Perhaps a little more confusing than it needs to be... But alas we are set into motion!

So let's roll our cooking checks (two each), then we will resume the Influence Encounter whose length will be determine by how good of cooks you all are!

Vekka has returned, so I won't bot him unless he's too swamped to post tonight.

I was indeed too swamped to post just then, but back and catching up slowly.

The dice are really welcoming me back.

Later today - I think I was waiting for someone but that someone is me…

Back to the main challenge, and I will long-respond to your posts when I get another free moment…

Note to self, I have been playing magus wrong with respect to needing a free hand for spellcasting:

Because you're a magus, you can draw replacement sigils with the tip of your weapon or your free hand for spells requiring material components, replacing them with somatic components instead of needing a material component pouch.

I should wield the katana 2H more often/usually.

Yup, you can take your hand off to complete your spellcasting gestures without spending an action to change your grip.

I'm a sword & shield guy so I have to stow/drop my shield to do a 2 hand.

@ Vekka (LINK)

My book is in the mail - but I am observing the early leaks...

=)

Hey gang,
Undergoing large changes in my work life, going to affect this PbP a little bit, so, I remain invested but the next big update - transitioning us to Book Two where "turns" will be measured in Downtime weeks - may take me a couple of days to upload.

In the meantime, we are concluded with Book One. So let me get, in no particular hurry:

PFS / Character #:
Level and Faction:
Normal or Slow?:

Cheers.

PFS Number: 289224-2006 (Nhorri Ephema)
Level: 1
Faction: Horizon Hunters
Normal

PFS / Character #272301-2007 (Ebren Windbrook)
Level 1
Faction Horizon Hunters
Normal or Slow? Normal

Hi GM, I hope your real life stabilizes. Work has kept me busy with multiple client trips, but it's easier to manage as a player than a GM.

Cirri Merryweather
PFS / Character #: 133608-2008
Level and Faction: Level 2, Verdant Wheel
Normal or Slow?: Normal

Name: Tsuan Lai Blakros
PFS / Character #: 2358909-2012
Level: 4/4/4
Faction: Vigilant Seal
Normal or Slow?: Normal

Despite being Level 4, Tsuan's mechanics haven't been finalized (she's a GM baby whose first three levels are from Fists of the Ruby Phoenix AP), so Downtime will be blank for now.

Tsuan is a rebuild of a PFS1 ninja who relied on vanish for sneak attack, so I'm not entirely sure how to capture it, mechanically. Current thought is a laughing shadow magus with a phoenix sorcerer dedication. *thumbsup to Vekka*

PFS / Character #: 17148-2001
Level and Faction: 2 (horizon hunters)
Normal or Slow?: normal.

Take your time especially with having to deal with such a big change!

Hope life settles down soon for you! Take your time for sure here.

Not to be a backseat GM, but just because I suspect it's going to come up, it's helpful to clarify which level your PFS characters are for each 1/3 of the Chronicle, as the XP are doled out in 4 XP chunks.

So, for instance, if you have a character with 17 XP, you'll get 4 XP at Level 2 (bringing them to 21 XP), another 4 XP at Level 2 (bringing them to 25 XP and Level 3), and then 4 XP at Level 3 (finishing at 29 XP). Downtime would be the same way - you'd roll for 8 days at Level 2, then 8 days at Level 2, and then 8 days at Level 3.

Just as if you got three 4-XP Chronicles.

Thanks! This is my first AP, so I would not have thought of that.