A heads up that starting Sunday I will be at a conference for a week and may be slow to post.
Another heads up that the WiFi here is not working well which makes it harder for me to post meaningfully as a GM. I will reply when I can and I appreciate your patience in the meantime.
I am back. Prep yourselves and let me know when you are ready to move on.
Righto. I'll review spells and update my list hopefully tonight. I am currently traveling so that may not happen but I'll make my best effort.
Lazur, Krowys, we good for moving on?
Also when I note "prepare" that also includes any side conversations you all want to have with each other, questions, setting up a watch during rest, etc. (And I know Mira may just summon her magnificent mansion for more spacious accommodation, etc.)
Not yet, haven't had the time to rewrite Krowys's Spell List properly. I'll update it today or tomorrow, I've just been busy.
No rush and no worries, just wanted to be sure I hadn't lost you. :)
I think I am good to go.
Busy day yesterday and today but I will post tomorrow. Krowys, just update your spells when you can.
Will do sometime today.
Please post in the game thread your good mornings and any questions to Brother Abyss and then he'll give you the "quest tour."
Spell List posted, was worried I wouldn't have enough money for Pact Witch's ability to use Planar Ally and its ilk, but I should be fine to use them, so long as it's only 1min/CL. Swapped out a few of the not-really used healing spells for some enchantment spells, as well as the Planar Ally spells.
I'll have the morning posts within a minutes at least.
Sorry for the slow response, crazy busy things happening here. I will post tomorrow.
I'll wait for you before the info dump then.
I feel like some transparency may help us sustain momentum, so:
The gist of this ritual (which those of you with more than 15 ranks in Spellcraft can easily glean) is it works basically like forcibly plane shifting someone away, but the ritual aspect--if it is performed successfully--will essentially raise the saving throw to resist and lower or even cancel the monster's spell resistance, to make it far more likely it will work.
Moreover, it will guarantee the monster will stay away; if you just tried to cast a spell to make it to go, it is powerful enough it might otherwise find its way back eventually.
If you attempt the ritual, but the ritual fails, the monster will nonetheless be weakened, making it easier to fight. (Those of you trained in Knowledge Religion, Arcana, or Planes know it's probably at least about CR 19 if not higher.)
You can also skip the ritual and just try to kill it, but of course then it will be full strength (but I wouldn't have you fight it if I didn't think you could handle it).
NOW: THE INGREDIENTS:
* A something of the Titans. You have already encountered a few options for this, object or living. Or if you want to go crazy you could try to travel to one of the moons and clip a Titan's sleeping toenail or something.
* Something representing vengeance/destruction. This can just be an object or artwork, or something holy to Berea, or something from a vengeful person or creature.
* Something representing sunlight.
* Something for binding/trapping/enchaining.
Anything that is "conceptual" can be submitted in the form of writing, e.g., a poem about the sun. Writing an appropriate item in an appropriate language may be a factor. Crafting an object is also an option.
There is no single "correct answer" for what fulfills the requirements for the "ingredients" Brother Abyss is seeking. You just need *something* that fits the description. It is *entirely* up to you to decide what each ingredient will be. In other words, this isn't a riddle or puzzle, it's a test of the party's creativity, ingenuity, and how much effort they are willing to put into something.
The trick is: the better/more powerful/more creative the "ingredient" you provide, the more likely the ritual will be successful (i.e., the higher the saving throw and the more it reduces its spell resistance).
I will make very clear that either through your own skills and spells, or through exploring the immediate area or perhaps speaking further or dealing with Brother Abyss, you can very quickly find materials or magic that fulfill the requirements of the ritual.
BUT, you can also consider traveling (across this prime or into other planes) to look for or get what you feel is a particularly suitable item.
In other words, this can be a very short adventure or a longer one. It is entirely up to you. I will assess the value of the ingredient based on the thought process and effort that goes into it. It doesn't have to necessarily take the PCs a long in-game time to get the thing if it's a clever idea (I'm not intending for you to have to go on four lengthy quests just to get these things). At the same time if you just throw some spells/potions at it immediately, it will work, but ritual may not be as powerful as it could be.
The Vengeance is not going to emerge tomorrow, but it will soonish (within a week or so). You can use the key Mira found to reinforce the gate to give yourselves more time if you really want to go exploring/questing.
This weekend has been busy and there's a lot to digest. I will try and post tomorrow.
If there's anything that is unclear or we want to look at one thing one at a time, let me know.
This is intended to be something you could resolve in a half hour or a few weeks, depending on what you want to invest into it.
Hi folks,
At the risk of this seeming sudden, I am ending this game effective immediately. I will be marking the campaign inactive 24 hours from now, so you are welcome until then to say farewell if you like. If you want to continue under another GM, let me know within those 24 hours, and I can leave the thread active for a time so the new GM can request it gets transferred to them.
Explanation: There's been no reply, in or out of character, save for one player, since I posted in the game thread a week ago. Regular posting has diminished as a rule. Players are either unable or unwilling to meet my clearly stated posting requirements of once every two days, IC or OOC. The high level of the campaign and my offering of (overly) complex setting options are moreover contributing to decision paralysis.
Once we moved into a sandbox, I made the mistake of not checking to be sure we were on the same page with what that meant: sandboxes require players to pick up the bucket and spade. I can't tell you what to do with them. This is doubly so for a high level game where the godlike PCs can literally go anywhere and do anything, so they are going to be the ones who must drive the momentum. I acknowledge my verbosity and attempts to create a multitude of options or potential avenues to explore has, potentially, made figuring out a forward direction difficult---even if my intent was simply to be sure you had enough to go on to identify a route that interested you. This said, I have repeatedly asked for feedback on how to improve things but received almost none. I was hoping the modularity of the quest I just offered (you get to decide how much effort you put into it) would be appealing, but this is obviously not the case. As such, I do not have the interest and energy levels to turn things around to re-energize things.
In short, there is no point in playing a game if you are not having fun. I am not having fun, and I can only infer from your radio silence that you are also not having fun (or are too busy to). I would rather free my time to either join more games as a player or run something else with more predetermined structure.
I appreciate, deeply, all of you for applying and, indeed, for getting through the initial planned adventure completely! That part *was* fun. And as such, this game as it was intended originally was a success. The rest was an experiment which failed, and the joy of such experiments is that we still get to learn from them.
Thank you for joining me. Good luck and happy gaming.
Sorry to hear, I've also had a hectic week between job applications and sickness. Good luck and happy gaming to you as well!
Thanks you for the game. It was enjoyable. Things got a little away from me on posting.
This required some thought and I don't like to post in limited time. Unfortunately it seemed like I never had what I thought was adequate to post in this last part.
Again thank you and good luck.
I asked folks over and over again that if for any reason they couldn't post IC to instead post OOC to check in, say if they needed more time, needed a break, or offer feedback. "I'm too busy" or "I don't know what to say" is no explanation when all you needed to do is post those exact words to indicate to me your needs within the 48 hour posting timeframe you actively agreed to during recruitment. As it stands, your actions--or inaction--show me your true engagement with the game far more than your words. Thank you for confirming I made the right decision.
I advise in your other games to please be more communicative of your needs and interests for your GM's sake.
Despite my frustrations, I do truly thank you for playing. I've learned a lot.
Closing the thread now.