Search Posts
This week has been overwhelming and I'm hoping to vegetate in bed all weekend. Become broccoli. If I do get to Gameplay, it'll be Saturday. But probably next week. My mind has melted and I am exhausted. Bot as needed. Understood. No stress. So, as far as getting out. There's swimming out through the collapsed harbor, which is an uncertain. There's the well you came down, currently blocked with boulders.
Lavinia nods agreement to Honeylyn's remarks. Vanthus's actions do not appear to make sense, from a business perspective. Potentially killing off his parents and consigning his sister to this place suggest an interest in securing the family fortune. There is also the matter of the Lady of the Lotus, and the lap of the Lotus. Could he be involved romantically with one of the gang members? The idea that this is his stash seems strange. He could easily keep gold in a bank, or his ship, or a house. Why use these caves? And the age of the manmade portion of the complex makes you think it is older than Vanthus.
Lavinia looks up from the pile of coins spilling out of the splintered chest and looks at Annelise in confusion. "Mine?" she says. "No. No, it isn't. I don't know whose it is. I don't really even know where we are. I was attacked aboard my brother's ship and brought here unconscious. Though, from the look of it, I would guess a pirate or a smuggler stashed it here."
Enjoy! Hopefully, you'll gain some clarity on what I've been doing.
On the third kick, the wood starts to splinter, and a few more have destroyed the chest. The violence of the method also seems to have destroyed some of the contents, as broken glass bottles leak mysterious liquid into the sand. The surviving contents rest of a bed of silver (1500) and copper (7500) coins. There are ten small purses containing 100 gold coins each. Two other bags hold an assortment of small gems (totaling 500 gp value). There is also a wand. . Lastly, there is a small, intricately carved jade coffer worth 300 gold. Inside is a faceted brown gem resting on a velvet cushion. Underneath is a small slip of paper that simply reads "Elemental Earth." Milton will recognize this as an elemental gem, that can be broken to summon a powerful elemental for a short time.
My beloved Minnesota Vikings?!? You know... I'm converting this from D&D 3.5 to a system that works extremely differently, and so it's mostly seat-of-my-pants, and sometimes I forget what I said before. I'm pretty sure I meant no roll required, so let's go with that. Under normal circumstances, I would never admit to making a mistke, but the rugby comment made me laugh. You can bust the chest open, no roll required. Especially that roll. (leaving the typo in the word mistake because irony)
Sorry to keep you waiting, folks! Hotel's been picking up again. We had a football team this week! You're good, given the much longer delay from the GM, I think your delay is quite excusable. That said, I fully intend to try to tighten up. My surgery is not a big deal, and they probably won't give me anything too strong, so I am anticipating being functional... let's try to get some momentum going! Annelise, if you want to break the chest open, go for it. If you're trying to break open the lock, [massive lock] gives a -1. If you're trying to bust open the chest itself, just a straight up roll with whatever tags are applicable.
Honeylyn pokes and prods with her picks, but where there should be a little pressure and a click, there is instead something solid and immovable. Perhaps the wizard bent something inside? The lock does not open.
Hey guys! Sorry for the delay. Life has been interesting lately. Heads up that Thursday I'm going in for surgery. Not a big deal, but it may affect my posting. I will have plenty of free time, but depending on pain and meds, I may be incapable of coherent thought. More than usual, even. Please be patient with me. A couple of notes: If I say [something in brackets] is affecting something you're doing, it is a tag, so it's a -1 to your roll. If it's [something with a number such as-3] it's a status and the number is the penalty. And the same applies if it's beneficial. A 6 or below does not succeed, so you can safely assume that it's worth trying again - though it may be worth waiting for the consequences to be revealed. I will mostly not add or subtract modifiers to your rolls after the fact, unless I think you're missing something highly relevant. Mostly, you guys seem to be pretty good about it.
Milton's spell causes the lock to rattle violently on the clasp. There is a click, but it does not open.
Lavinia looks hopeful. Though she is clearly in a bad state physically, and has been under extraordinary strain for quite some time, she seems optimistically determined. She smiles at Svetozar and notices his wound. "We'll see it healed," she says to him. "It'll be child's play for one of the priests of Osprem."
The sea caves wander, but there are no forks that lead any distance, making the way forward clear. With the tide out, it is more a matter of wading than swimming, though there are a few places where the roof is so low the group is forced to dive, and a few where the floor drops away, so Honeylyn has to swim a few strokes to get solid rock underneath her feet. Finally, the tunnel rises again, and comes into a chamber whose floor is dry and sandy. There is a chest on the floor, with a massive lock holding it shut.
Lavinia frowns at her brother's letter. "I don't know this man my brother has become," she mutters. Further exploration of the complex reveals no obvious escape route. It does take time, however, and after several hours pass, the sea water in the sea caves and the room with the old pier starts to recede. The tide is going out, exposing more and more of the sea caves.
Annelise: The Lotus Dragons are one of many gangs that have been clawing for supremacy in Sasserine's underworld. The leadership is unknown, giving rise to all manner of speculation, which is fueled by their remarkable successes.
The taxidermist's guild hall is on Water Street in the Sunrise District. Add [leather armor] as a backpack tag. If you wear it before you are able to get it well cleaned, also add [rotten flesh]. If you want to make the armor really significant, you could create it as a theme when you get the chance to evolve or create a theme. It doesn't change the properties of the armor itself, but it increases the narrative importance of it.
A brief search of the room where Lavinia had been trapped reveals another doorway, but the room beyond has completely caved in. In one corner, she points out someone else was here. A corpse, black and swollen with decay, thankfully not moving. On the wrist is an intricate tattoo is still visible, of a dragon coiled around a flower. The body wears a well-made suit of [leather armor], though it is slimy with decaying flesh, it has held up. Its fingers clutch a scroll of parchment. These bones once be Penkus, so if ye read this, I be dead, laid low by the sick put on me by that foul dead thing! Yet even as me flesh wracks, know t'was not the dead what brought my doom, but one I 'til recently called friend! Vanthus Vanderboren! Your name fills me with bile! Spineless, treacherous cur! You left us here to die. You left ME here to die, after all what I done t'get ye into th' Lotus! Yer designs on the Lady of the Lotus be clear now, and with meself out th'way... ye doubtless move even now into power, slithering amid my vacancy like a hermit crab in a shell, or a cadaver worm to still-warm flesh. CURSE UPON YE! To th'one what reads this. If ye have any honor or vengeance in yer soul, know that Vanthus must die. He dwells in the lap o'th' Lotus, below th' Taxidermist's Hall. Seek him there, but 'fore he dies he must ken it were Penkus what undid him and guides yer killing blow. And if, by some cruel spite of fate, it be ye what read this, Vanthus, know with certainty I wait for ye in Hell, where I intend t' rival the pit itself in yer torment!
The woman who staggers through the door is barely recognizable as Lavinia Vanderboren. The portrait you were shown was of an attractive young noblewoman at her best, and this woman is gaunt, with tangled hair and bloodshot eyes. Her face, hands, clothes are streaked with mud and blood. She flinches away from the light at first, as someone who has been in the dark for a long time. "Thank you," she says, shivering as she steps past the bodies of the once undead things. She bows to each of you. "I am in your debt. Each of you." "I would like to hear the details of your suspicions," she says to Milton. "But when I can see the sky again. After I've eaten something." "I am already deeply in debt to Kora," she says, smiling. "I will add this to the account." She shakes her head when Svetozar asks if she knows the layout of the place. "I went to see Vanthus on his ship," she says. "One of the sailors said he was below, and I went down and woke up here, in the dark, with a crowd of undead on the other side of the door. I don't know how long it's been. Days?"
There is a door, the one that the creatures you found had been trying to bash through when you arrived. There is a bar across it on this side. The voice is coming from the other side. As you approach, the door shakes against the bar. It will be no trouble to lift the bar and open the door. "Please hurry," Lavinia says. "He wouldn't..." she starts to say, shocked by Milton's accusation. Shocked, but not entirely able to dismiss them, either. "I... I don't believe my brother could... but whatever his crimes, I will see that he pays for them."
Annelise has seen poisoned wounds before, and this looks quite similar. This isn't poison of the drop-dead-any-second variety, but it is beyond the power of simple field-dressing to remedy. She hopes that cleaning it will buy time to get him to a proper priest or apothecary. There is a moment of hesitation. One voice called her name, then another asked it. "I am Lavinia Vanderboren," she calls back, her voice proud, but with an edge of desperation cutting through. "Please, Miss Erkynwald let me out. Whatever Vanthus may have done to you, he was not acting for the family. Our families have no cause for enmity. Please!"
Inconceivable When you have marked it 3x for that theme, you can add a tag to that theme.
Inconceivable You keep using that word... (somebody had to take the bait)
The dead thing loomks over Treail in the Woods, growling in hunger. As it falls on the Tabaxi, sharp claws rake its belly. It collapses beside Trail, innards spilling out, covering him.
"Is that you, Vanthus?" a woman's voice calls out. "You've gone too far this time. I could have died down here. Let me out!"
Honeylyn ducks nimbly through the melee to help Trail regain his feet.
Svetozar struggles under the weight of the undead creature, and then feels sharp teeth slicing into the flesh of his shoulder. Blood spurts into the creature's mouth. necrotic bite-2 Before it can tear flesh away, though, a bolt of electricity hits it. It convulses violently, and then collapses, its limp body rolling off of Svetozar. Annelise finds her focus and slices with a terrible efficiency, dropping her attacker.
Trail tries to help Annelise, but as she slips free, she pushes the creature out of his reach, his claws rake the air where it had been a moment ago. His momentum throws him off balance, and he stumbles forward, feet sliding on the slippery floor.
Milton blasts (presumably the same one) for 2 (+1 from R1=3) Annelise stabs the one grappling Svetozar for 1. Let's say that is the one that Honeylyn hit in R1 since the others are engaged. Svetozar whiffs again. Honeylyn is frozen in indecision. Trails misses. So 3 are still up. One tagged for 2 by Trails currently grappling him), 1 tagged for 2 by Annelise (currently grappling her?) and one tagged for 1 by Annelise (grappling Svetozar).[/ooc] Annelise: I did not call for a resist roll on your grappled status because it is purely situational. Your focus was on Svetozar and the price you paid was ignoring the other threat...
That said, your narrative justification is solid, and you smoked the roll. Unsure about using slippery. It won't affect the result, so not worried. My gut says it's relevant, so I think I allow it.
Going to give Honeylyn another day to post. At which point I will figure out the result Trail's action (and her's). Then we will have finished round 2. Then Annelise has begun round 3.
Milton keeps his cool and sends a bolt of electricity crackling through the air. The undead thing he targeted spasms and drops motionless, steam rising. Annelise's blades do their work, slashed-1 on the creature assaulting Svetozar. But she was so focused on defending her ally, she forgot the one that she had merely wounded before. Powerful, dead hands grab her from behind. grappled-2
Mainly I meant that question as a check in - engagement and understanding. It sounds like a choice you made intentionally, which is great with me. And yeah, you need to swap out your dice! I would say, holy warrior would count on an undead. Smite evil does extra on an undead the first hit for comparison. I agree. I also think gaming has maybe jaded us to the point where a dead thing brought to ravenous, murderous, life isn't both evil and supernatural. To a person living in a world where such things are possible, it may be more fearsome. Nevertheless, it's your choice, it's solid, and (like you said) it wouldn't make a difference.
Svetozar slips again as he attacks the creature, and a heavy arm knocks him off his feet. The creature drops on top of him, mouth open wide, razor sharp teeth on display. [ooc]Svetozar is both prone-2 and pinned-2 Milton speaks words of power, and a bolt of fire shoots from his hand, striking the target, but hissing and fizzling. scalded-1 Milton:
You had power 2, but these guys are resistant to fire. Svetozar: The resist roll was to see if you could reduce the incoming status. Not with that roll, unfortunately.
As for the lack of tags... may I ask why not? I would think Holy Warrior at least would apply. I guess I'm wondering if it's a choice or if you need some help with the system? Just fyi, the prone is the consequence from your first round fail. Pinned is the consequence for the second.
Thanks! And yeah, it's very different from Pathfinder/D&D. Yes. I am just anxious for more frequent posting. Life is working me over pretty good these days, but hopefully things will slow down soon.
Svetozar:
When you take your next turn, add a resist roll at the top. You CAN NOT use any of the tags or statuses you used in your previous roll, as this is resulting from your failed roll.
Also, there was no tag associated with the Teamwork you claimed a +1 for. If there is a tag, identify it. If not, don't claim it. It is wholly appropriate to spend a turn creating such tags. Milton & Honeylyn:
Tell me about your spells. What do they look like? What is the effect? Annelise leaps forward, kicking and slashing. One of the creatures staggers off balance. This time, it does not fall so easily. She ducks under a clumsy swipe of it's arm and skips out of reach, leaving it snarling in frustration and battered-2. Trail springs forward, claws raking another of the creatures. He is far too quick for it, and in turns slowly to stagger in pursuit. Clawed-2
Initiative: at the table, I would give the spotlight to one of you at a time, reestablishing the scene in each case. Because that would take forever in a pbp environment, I'm opting to do it a little more freeform - you can each post when you're able, and when everyone has had a go, I'll reset the scene and we can start again. You don't have to wait for the front liner, but do be aware of the situation. Last time you were in a tight corridor where there wasn't room to pass each other easily. Now, you have room, so you won't cause that sort of trouble. A note on the flow of play... I never roll. Consequences are incurred by rolling 9 or under, or by ignoring a threat. This system is not as tactical as D&D... so exact distances aren't really a part of the conversation. If they're coming at you, you can assume they'll reach you unless you put an obstruction (even just some distance) between you. If it's a longer range scenario, I'll describe the distance and give you a sense of when they'll close. I will try to make things clearer as we go.
Would love to get in on this. I imagine a Summoner, genie-flavored.
This chamber is big enough that the far corners are in shadows. Murky puddles of water cover parts of the floor, and the walls are streaked with fungus. Four figures, similar to the one you met in the hall, are gathered around a doorway in the wall to the right. They are pounding and scratching at the wood, trying to open it. When this door opens and light spills in, they turn, and the groans take on a more deadly tone. They start to shuffle towards you.
The group backtracks to the second door, where Honeylyn does indeed hear a distant groaning. As well as something that sounds like splintering wood.
Apologies for lack of clarity.
The door is swollen and waterlogged, but it creaks open slowly. The sound is answered by a familiar groaning from somewhere ahead of you. The thing that attacked you was not alone, it seems. The room is huge, extending out of sight into the darkness to the left, right and ahead. The walls are covered with strange fungus. Ahead of you there are two massive columns, supporting a high, vaulted ceiling. The ceiling to the left has collapsed, and the floor quickly drops off in that direction. Sea water laps against the edge, and the remains of a pier seem to stand. The corpse of a man floats face down in the pool, something has been eating him. Further investigation shows that what may once have been an opening wide enough to admit a rowboat is now completely filled in from the collapsed roof. Further into the room are more columns, and more doors. Several are opened to reveal storerooms whose contents have long since given way to rot. The one door opposite you, though, opens to a natural cave. The passage slopes quickly down, and is soon submerged completely.
The thing has nothing on it but rags. Around the bend, the tunnel opens into a much wider hallway. The ceiling is still vaulted and fairly low, the floors are still wet and slippery, but there's space. At the limits of the light shed by Honeylyn's motes you see two doors, one to your left, one to the right.
Svetozar feels the arms holding him tight, and the groan as the mouth opens wide. Then there is fire, there are knives, all terrifyingly close. Milton's fire bolt hits the thing square in the face. Its effect is lessened though. The thing is so waterlogged, it extinguishes the fire as soon as it hits. Annelise, on the other hand, hits the creature solidly. The blades sink deep, so deep that she is punching it's flesh as well. Somewhere around the third or fourth violent stab, the thing staggers back. It releases Svetozar and collapses on the floor.
Is the geography such that Trail can get in there without knocking over more people? Perhaps by doing some cat like acrobatic stuff? Yes. If you narrate yourself squeezing past, you'll be able to. You'll have to take the [tight passage] as a -1 on your roll. If you take a consequence, though, I get to narrate what happens. If you - for example - succeed on slipping past the others and attacking with your claws, but take a consequence, then the consequrnce won't take away your success. It could be as simple as you taking a status in return. Svetozar failed on his roll AND ignored the tight passage in his post, so his consequences reflected that.
So... now that we're in an honest to goodness combat, we are going to make sure everyone gets a turn before we move on. I will do my best to resolve each action as it happens, but if you're waiting for your turn, go ahead and post. If this requires some ret-conning to keep thigns straight, I'd rather do that than have each round take a week.
Because of the [tight passage] and his position in the middle of the group, Svetozar has to shove Honeylyn and Annelise out of his way to get to the shuffling, groaning thing. The blade slides through the creatures ragged clothing, and Svetozar keeps stumbling forwards, until he is stopped by the thing itself. It supports him in a tight embrace, like a fetid, rotting lover. Honeylyn and Annelise:
You are [off balance]. This will count against you for your next act. Svetozar: You are embraced-2. You will have to physically pull free.
The tunnel bends to the right, and around the corner, a dozen paces away, a humanoid form lurches into sight. It's footsteps are wet, and it seems wholly waterlogged. It moves stiffly, slowly. It was human once, you think, the rags it wears were once a sailor's garb. Now, the flesh is rotten, the smell of decay hits you, and the teeth in the creature's mouth are ragged, sharp-edged triangles, like you'd find in a shark's mouth. It groans loudly at the sight of the group, and staggers forward, reaching out....
As the candle sparks to light with Svetozar's flint, Honeylyn's shadows turn bright, first filling the narrow space with a glowing fog that obscured as much as it revealed. The former shadows quickly coalesce into tiny orbs, that bathed the area in something with the quality of starlight, but the brightness of lanterns. From down the narrow passageway, the splashing stops. For a moment, there is quiet, but then there is a wet thud, and another, and another. Like heavy footsteps, ponderously moving towards you.
Or I can do a little Narrator Fiat solution. :)
Shefton might have survived the fall, but not without some broken limbs. As it is, he is dead, but still warm and wet with blood. There are seven gold pieces in his pocket, and a few waxy... stubs of candle?
Sorry, busy weekend. Posting now Understood. Not trying to be a jerk. I lost momentum last week, so I'm trying to build it back up.
Correct that we didn't get into gear. I don't really feel like this system wants us to track every single thing you're carrying, but we are playing an AP built for a system that does make that assumption. Going forward, we may want to use backpack tags a bit more. For now, I leave it to you guys. If anyone was carrying a source of light around with them while they were asking around the city, they would have it now.
Since there is no interest in what is moving in the darkness, I'll be moving on when i have time to post again.
Milton's efforts to make light only manage to make a flash that goes out almost instantly. It is accompanied by a bang that echoes down the narrow passage. From a distance, you hear something splashing. Very much like someone wading through shallow water.
Everyone:
(But mostly Honeylyn) Your spell succeeds! Power=3, and that's going to be at -1 for affecting the group, leaving two, enough to buy everyone a [in the shadows] tag. If our trusty gnome accepts that as the effect, everyone can use that tag for sneakiness. Honeylyn's spell seems to gather the darkness around the party. A few moments after Trails reaches the bottom of the shaft, the ladder falls after him, cut off from the iron rings that held it in place. "Hellooooo!" a mocking voice calls down. "Or rather, goodbye! Thank you for arranging a boat for me! Give my love to Lavinia if you see her!" Looking up the shaft, you see a face that you recognize from the portrait you were shown. It is Vanthus. He waves, laughs cruelly, and disappears from view. A moment later, Shefton comes tumbling down the shaft. A few bones break when he lands, but he feels no pain. His throat has already been slit to the bone. Then the cover is pushed back over the top of the shaft. There is a terrible scraping sound of something heavy being pushed onto the cover. You can't help remembering the boulders that surrounded the opening.
The shaft descends thirst or so feet, the air cooling quickly the deeper the characters go, from the sweltering midday heat outside to a damp chill at the base. At first, it is refreshing, but it would be an uncomfortable place to live. At the bottom, you reach the end of a tunnel, five feet wide and just high enough for the tallest of you to scrape their head on the top. The walls and floor are lined with brick, slippery underfoot, and the ceiling forms an arch.
|
