A: Town Square. Simple wooden gazebo serves as the hub for Ravengro's gatherings. The town's favorite stray dog, Old River, is known to hang around here during the day.
B: Posting Poles: poles where townspeople can post all sorts of messages for the town, ranging from news to sales to advertisements.
C: The Laughing Demon: Zokar Elkarid runs this warm and friendly tavern.
D: Ravengro Town Hall: in classic small-town style, Ravengro citizens use this for virtually everything, from weddings to council meetings.
E: Temple of Pharasma: Vauran Grimburrow, the Father from the funeral, is officialy in charge of the temple, but any number of a dozen or so acolytes actually handle the day to day going-ons. The temple sells various healing and holy related items.
F: Ravengro General Store: Luthko and Marta Avanaki run the general store with their five daughters. While the store usually caters to local needs, the town is big enough and on a populated enough route to stock most simple adventuring items.
G: Ravengro Forge: Jorfa is the dwarven master of the forge. One of Ravengro's most valuable resources, she is as standoffish and quiet on her past as one would expect.
H: Jominda's Apothecary: Jominda Fallenbridge keeps a well-stocked supply of pharmacological provisions, both herbal and alchemical.
I: Ravengro Jail: a relatively small jail serves as Ravengro's home for the occasional drunk citizen. Sherriff Benjan Caller runs the jail with his four part-time deputies.
J: The Silk Purse: two moneylenders work out of this building, Luramin Taigh and Quess Yearburn. They have loans available for collateral to farmers or other potential clients. They also sell some of the items that have failed to me reclaimed.
K: The Outward Inn: board and breakfast run by Sarlanna Val. Highly reccomended, if you don't have a free place to stay that is. Local musicians and storytellers often visit for evenings of entertainment.
L: The Unfurling Scroll: Alendru Ghoroven, a retired wizard-turned-teacher teaches reading, math, and history, as well as beginning magical theory. In addition to teaching, Alendru supplements his income by buying and selling minor magic items (primarily scrolls) that he’s purchased or created.
M 1-4: Council Member's Houses.
N: The Van Richten Residence: formerly the professor's house, it is now Kendra's. And your current lodging.
O: Harrowstone Memorial: Other than the looming ruins of Harrowstone on a nearby hill, Ravengro’s most distinctive landmark is a 25-foot-tall, moss-covered stone statue that overlooks the river. The statue depicts a proud, muscular human man dressed in leathers and wielding a truncheon—a depiction of Warden Hawkran. A total of 25 names—the guards who died in the fire of 4661, as well as the warden’s wife, are chiseled into the statue’s stone base.
P: to The Restlands: a large stretch of moorland reserved for interring Ravengro's dead. Thanks to the Pharasmin church's influence in town, Ravengro's graveyard is large and well tended.
Q: Gibs Hephenus, the man who started the fight at the professor's funeral lives here.
R To Harrowstone: this reminder of Ravengro's original purpose looms over the town from atop its bleak hilltop, a constant inspiration for tall tales and bad dreams.
Sanity Rules:
Sanity Score: This is sort of like mental hit points. It’s the sum of all your mental stats (Wisdom, Intelligence, Charisma) less any damage to those scores.
Sanity Damage: this is like hit point damage done in physical combat (like a sword blow, etc), only, it affects your sanity score, not your hit points. So, if you encounter an attack on your sanity and suffer damage, you deduct that damage from your sanity score.
Losing Sanity and Gaining Madness:
When you’re faced with a monster that can do sanity damage, you have to make an immediate will save. If you save, most of the time, you will be able to ignore all Sanity damage (i.e. your mental faculties hold up) though some creatures may do damage regardless of your save (like Great Old Ones).
If you lose ALL of your Sanity (i.e. Sanity pool moves to zero), you gain a lesser madness (this is generally a temporary condition), I will not have PCs suffer more than 1 lesser madness at a time. This mechanic is for flavor not to annihilate PCs effectiveness.
If you lose ALL of your Sanity facing a Great Old One, that will trigger a greater madness. This is permanent though each PC will only ever gain a single one of these.
Losing Madness and Gaining Sanity:
Madness can be lost (and sanity restored in several ways).
1. Rest: Every 7 full days of uninterrupted rest heals sanity damage equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1). You’re letting your own sense of self and force of personality reassert itself and mend together the tattered fragments of your tortured psyche.
2. Therapy: Tell someone else your problems (mentor, counselor, confidante, friend, family, priest, advisor, etc). At the end,, the ally attempts a Wisdom or Intelligence check (whichever is higher) DC equal to the amount of Sanity you have lost. Success means you add their ability modifier (wis or int, whichever is higher) to the amount of sanity damage you heal.
3. Magic:
a. lesser restoration: 1d2 points once per day
b. Restoration: 2d4 points per day
c. Heal: 3d4 points/day
d. Greater restoration, psychic surgery, limited wish: all of it, if your sanity was below your edge (in other words, you still had more than half your sanity points left). Or, to 1 point below your sanity edge if you had more than half of your sanity lost.
e. Miracle and wish fix everything
Effects of Restoring Sanity:
Lesser Madness - If all of your sanity damage is healed, your lesser madness is removed entirely.
Greater Madness - If all of your sanity damage is healed, your greater madness is dormant. It will become reactivated if you again suffer a full loss to your Sanity score. A greater madness can only be fully healed with a long term psychiatric stay (1 month, which could well be played out over a downtime depending on how the chronicle proceeds) r the use of a Wish or Miracle spell (hard to come by in Ravenloft!).
Fear, Horror, and Madness:
I will NOT be using Madness rules as the Sanity rules already cover that.
Fear, Horror, and Madness saves represent the power of terror — a roleplaying tool to help players visualize the hysteria that often clouds the minds of characters in classic tales of horror.
Making the Saving Throw
Fear and Horror saves are considered Will saves in all respects. Anything that modifies a Will save likewise modifies Fear and Horror saves; anything that modifies saves vs. fear effects modifies Fear saves.
Fear and Horror saves all use the same basic mechanic: a Will save against a specified DC. Specific DCs depend on the situation and type of check being made and will be provided by me. Luck effects and resistance effects (such as those generated by a luckstone or a cloak of resistance) do not affect Fear and Horror saves; they are outside the purview of luck and are not "active" effects that would be resisted. Divine effects do aid Fear and Horror saves, however.
If a character succeeds at the Will save, then there is no effect, and she is immune to that specific source of fear or horror for 24 hours. If a character fails the Will save, then the margin of failure determines the result. Subtract the final check result from the DC; this result determines whether the character suffers a minor, moderate, or major effect.
Failure Margin Effect
1-5 points Minor
6-10 points Moderate
11-15 points Major
16+ points Major, plus additional effect.
When determining the results of failed Horror save, the player should also concurrently roll 1d4 for the DM to select a specific effect.
FEAR SAVES
A character should make a Fear save when facing overwhelming odds and/or immediate, dire physical danger.
Failure Results
Minor Effect: Shaken. The character suffers a -2 morale penalty to attack rolls, checks, and saves.
Moderate Effect: Frightened. The character is shaken and flees as well as she can. She can fight to defend herself if unable to flee. A frightened character can use special abilities, including spells, to flee; indeed, she must use such means if they are the only way to escape.
Major Effect: Panicked. The character suffers a -2 morale penalty on saving throws and must flee. She has a 50% chance to drop what she's holding, chooses her path randomly (as long as she escapes from immediate danger), and flees any other dangers that confront her. If cornered, she cowers. A panicked character may use a special ability or spell to escape.
Additional Failures: Fear effects stack. A shaken character who fails another Fear save becomes frightened. A frightened character who fails another Fear save becomes panicked.
Recovering from Fear
Fear effects last 5d6 rounds. Certain spell effects (such as modify memory or remove fear) can remove all Fear effects.
Note that as the characters level, the amount of fear checks will diminish as you confidence and power/abilities increase.
HORROR SAVES
The heroes witness scenes of terrible cruelty or behold events that simply should not be. Horror is a broader emotion than fear, and more intimate. Horror often permanently colors a character's view of the world, be it through the shock of realizing that such merciless events are possible or the paralyzing dismay of discovering some monstrous trait within oneself. Horror is the murderer of innocence. Possible examples of scenes that might require a Horror save include seeing someone torn limb from limb, watching a friend transform into a hideous monster, or learning that you slew an innocent bystander while possessed by an evil spirit.
Horror saves are typically prompted by unusual, unique situations rather than by creatures, so unlike Fear saves there's no quick formula to determine the DC. Instead, I will use my best judgment to apply a DC to the scene. As a rule, the more gruesome, abnormal and/or insane the scene, the higher the DC should be.
Failure Results
If a character fails a Horror save, the player should roll 1d4 and compare it to the effect category to select a specific symptom of Horror. If a character fails a Horror save by 16+ points, he suffers Sanity Damage on a one for one basis for each point over 16 (i.e. failing a roll by 20 would result in 4 points of Sanity Damage).
Failure Results
Minor Effect: (1) Aversion, (2) Fearstruck, (3) Frozen, or (4) Nausea.
Major Effect: (1) Fascination, (2) Haunted, (3) Mental Shock, or (4) System Shock
Additional Failures: Some Horror effects have outburst durations that are measured in rounds. A character can carry only a single Horror effect at a time. If a subsequent failed Horror save indicates a result of equal or lesser severity, I will use another outburst of the existing effect. If a failed Horror save indicates a result of greater severity, the existing effect is removed and there is default to the greater one instead. Horror effects do not stack.
Recovering from Horror
Minor Horror effects last one week.
Moderate effects last two weeks.
Major effects last thirty days.
At the end of this duration, the character rolls a recovery check (a Horror save). Use the DC of the original Horror save with a -2 morale bonus, since time and distance heal all wounds. If the character succeeds at this check, the Horror effect is removed. If she fails, the Horror effect persists for another duration period. A character can retry failed Horror recovery checks each time she reaches the end of a duration period. The -2 DC modifier is cumulative with each attempt.
Numerous spells and magical effects (such as modify memory or remove fear) can also remove all Horror effects.
HP 22/22; San 35/36; Rage 5/8; AC 14 (16 vs undead); DR 2/- vs undead; Init +0; Fort +5; Ref +0; Will +0; Per +5 3
Seeing everyone heading off to the townhall the big man sighs. "Ay think the terrors of Harrowstone may pale in comparison to spending hours in the records office." he mutters. However in spite of his words, he happily, and, joins in the hunt.
lots of know(local) aid-another efforts (rolling in spoiler, as may be not be posting tomorrow):
aid another DC10:1d20 ⇒ 15 aid another DC10:1d20 ⇒ 16 aid another DC10:1d20 ⇒ 10 aid another DC10:1d20 ⇒ 5 aid another DC10:1d20 ⇒ 14 aid another DC10:1d20 ⇒ 15 aid another DC10:1d20 ⇒ 15 aid another DC10:1d20 ⇒ 9
M Koldemar Fighter 1 / Soul shepherd master of many styles monk 1
"No one is assuming anything yet. It couldn't be lunch, at least not something she did regularly because it was noted the wife's presence was strange."
Zek nods to Zyblina.
"Let us get on with it." little dragon enshrouds himself again in the cloak and keeps next to the cleric. Even if he is noticed, he might be maybe considered a helper to the priest.
Teo turns to Sergei, "Before you leave, the Lopper called you by some odd name at the end of that fight, what was it Disilnya? Is that another of your, uh, personalities? How did he even know to say that?"
After Sergei's response the group, minus Teo, heads to Town Hall.
Town Hall is the largest building in the town square. Sitting on the Gazebo in the center of town square is a dog. He observes your comings with great interest wagging his tail in response to your presence.
Those few townsfolk present in the square either don't look at you or look at you with mistrust. Standing on the front porch of the town square building is a pudgy fellow, shading towards just past middle age. The way he carries himself though shows that he was once fit and likely a warrior of some sort. His smile is present but not warm, "Greetings adventurers, I am am Councilor Vashian Hearthmount.
The building is made of sturdy local wood, but aesthetically is quite plain. Only its size stands out as it is on of the larger structures in a town with only a half dozen similarly situated buildings.
Shanda told me you would arrive in the morning". He chuckles, "Around here we consider the morning a number of hours ago, but it's alright. Come on in and i'll show you what you face".
You follow him into what looks to be more of a hall than a "Town Hall", the first floor is one bog room with several window on each side. Many chairs and tables are arranged on one side of the room. There is a podium at the back of the room and a door to the right of the podium in the back. From the outside this would have appeared to be a two story building, instead with its vaulted ceiling it has only a single floor, at least on the ground level. He leads you through there where a small hall reveals a few more doors.
Turning left and then right at the end of the short hallway he opens a door that leads down a narrow winding staircase. The staircase is stone, the walls brick. It is damp and stuffy down here, not ideal for document storage. At the bottom you find the object of your quest and a daunting task. This underground space has many, many, many wooden crates.
The looks on your faces leads to yet another chuckle from the Councilman, "Not to worry, I isolated the crates from that contained records from the time of the incident in the middle of the room. If what you are looking for is here, you'll find it there". He points to about fifty such crates. "From the few things I did pull, just out of curiosity, I found crop and weather reports. But I did find a short report discussing that much of the paperwork from the prison was transferred here. Good luck. You've two days. I'll come by later to lock up".
A few rolls were announced to me, I'll do that now.
You all get to work organizing trying to pull out as many crates that aren't relevant as possible to get to what might help you solve the riddle of the Eight.
Zek looks to pull lists of names first with Bastion's assistance guided magically by Zy - 1d20 + 4 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 4 + 2 + 1 = 20
By lunchtime, Zek has the list! The eight are listed as:
(i) the Lopper, birth name - Vance Dilisnya,
(ii) Piper of Illmarsh, birth name - Unknown,
(iii) Father Charlatan, real name - Sefick d’Honaire,
(iv) the Mosswater Marauder, real name - Ispin Hiregaard,
(v) Splatter Man, real name - Hean Boritsi,
(vi) Bonegnasher, real name - Tristan Mordenheim,
(vii) The Hanged Man, real name - Kristoff Godefrey, and
(viii) Soulcatcher, real name - Lucy Drakov.
Bastion made several Aid Another rolls. Most were successful, but a few were not as only FOUR of you will be doing a deep dive on any of the names above, I'll just rule that his successful rolls will be applicable. As it took Zek 4 hours to get a lead on the specific names, the rest of you spent that time looking for a needle in a haystack. BUT as Zek was successful and as Bastion had those Aid Another rolls, you still get that +4 for the specific research rolls + another +1 for Zy's liberal Guidance casting, so +5 PLUS another plus 1 for each hour you spend on a specific Topic. The most time you can spend here is 10 hours and 4 have already gone by so that's another +6 if you focus on ONLY 1 of the Prisoners today. Bottom Line - Cole, Kenzo, Sergei, and Sterling all gain a minimum of +5 and up to +11 for the Knowledge Local check.
Male Human Kineticist 2, AC 13, HP: 26/26, Temp HP 2, Sanity 38, Burn 0/8, Burn Shard 1/1, Fort +8, Ref +6, Will +1 (Second Chance 1/1) Init +3, Per +7, Hero Points 1/1
GM Dark Shadows wrote:
Teo turns to Sergei, "Before you leave, the Lopper called you by some odd name at the end of that fight, what was it Disilnya? Is that another of your, uh, personalities? How did he even know to say that?"
Sorry, I missed this!
Sergei was quiet and still, clearly taken off guard by the question. After a moment, he sighed. "I suppose there is little point in keeping up the pretense of normality at this point."
"You have the right of it. I do not know how this Lopper knew of Dilisnya. It is possible the wraith could see the other spirits that inhabit this vessel, and somehow recognized him. He is being... tight lipped about it. The women are chastising him, but he is not the sort to give up anything without receiving something significant in return. I'm afraid I have little to offer in the way of explanation."
I'm spending 6 hours focusing on The Lopper. Since I'm unskilled, I'd prefer to use my roll to Aid Another if someone else is researching Lopper too.
