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Clara sighs as her friend sets immediately to petty vandalism, but follows J'Victus "We can't take him anywhere. This is why we knock. If he's not home, we look in the windows. We don't just break the door down. This isn't a dungeon. Next thing you know everything will be on fire and he'll be equivocating about how the thatch was looking at him funny."
Clara is still in the inn, eating, so you'll have to sort out what you want to do in the stables without her input. As a player, I'd be in favor of just ignoring Arik, we can get back to him later. We have a mountain to worry about. As a character, Clara isn't going to go out of her way to seek vengeance, since that's not her goddess's gimmick.
Clara smiles as they enter the inn, and is genuinely pleasant to the staff as her partymates interact with the innkeep. "This is lovely, thank you, and Shelyn bless you." She sits where indicated, and looks over the plate before eating, saying a short prayer of thanks to Shelyn, touching her chest with bowed head, then begins to eat with a smile.
"Food seems as good a place to start as any. We should probably see to our wagon and horses first."
Get well soon!
I can effort post on behalf of paladins taking prisoners to justice if you like, but honestly we've been derailed from the 'run a dungeon' part of the recruitment so far and I don't really want to derail everyone into 'reform the local banditry' if they aren't feeling it. I think clara's opinion is pretty clear - don't murder innocent men in cold blood, but depending on how we want to view "The Judge" part of Ahadiel (and pending his and GM approval) we could probably throw together a quick judgement + sentencing if the other players who didn't sign up to be paladins don't want to do the paladin thing with every prisoner we come up against. Shelyn is big on redemption, and in an Open World style campaign I'd probably err on the side of 'redeem the bandits' but that's not what the other players signed up for, they signed up to go see dragon mountain. Anyways, I think this is better to talk about OOC than IC because it's not really about IC decisions - it's a question of how the players want to handle having a few paladins in the group - would you rather we did battlefield judgements or prisoner drop offs? The third option requires GM approval, but if they're willing to allow it, we can take Leadership and just recruit followers.
Please don't randomly murder disarmed prisoners, thanks. We're trying to reform j'victus not encourage him.
Who are we waiting on?
Actions:
Standard - Maintain concentration on the Illusory Wagon with it's occupants moving away from the battle. Move - None Swift - None Clara continues concentrating, moving the wagon further away and blending it with the tree line.
Fine by me. I didn't add the illusion of a wagon to the map to avoid cluttering it up.
"Ah yes, our traditional solution of blind ourselves and clump up. Well, if we're doing it this way, go get them. Try to remember no maiming. For all we know they're the local farmers out to save their farm from bandits, and if they're the bandits it's an easy enough job to bundle them into the back of the wagon with us. I'll see if I can draw them in for you." Clara jumps off the back of the wagon, keeping an eye on the path behind them, and the wagon and fog between her and the ambush.
Actions: Move to the back
Standard cast minor image (DC 18 when they can interact with it) - wagon+party rolling back down the road the way we came from. Swift none
"That was certain before the discussion even got started. The last thing we let you drive crashed, remember the balloon?" Clara smiles, then goes looking for this wagon and team. "Lead on, good Mayor, we appreciate your help, although at that price I'd expect to be buying the wagon."
"I think we should all get some sleep, and the great adventure can continue in the morning. I'll just finish my drink, then I'll be right up." She murmurs in elven
Clara spends some time trying to calm the locals after the display of temper, then heads to bed.
Dice:
"Old graveyards do make good picnic parks. We'll have to look into it after this trip." Clara grins agreeably at Amy.
"Magic makes people sick in the head apparently. Did the sorcerer even stop to think about the entire herds of local animals he was dooming by drying up a river? What about the people upstream? Downstream? Farms ruined? Must have been hard. Still might be." Clara shakes her head, looking around the room, meeting eyes where she can, offering small understanding smiles. "Tell us more about the town, please. It must have taken a brave people to stay after a sorcerous curse on the river."
"Ah, a good point." Clara touches shoulders briefly, refreshing her normal spells and links, then tugs on her cloak, checking her gear is in place. A short jog in place and she looks towards the gate, bouncing lightly on her feet. "Ok friends, to adventure. Hopefully it's a simple gate trip, but it never hurts to be ready. When you please, mistress mage."
Clara looks over the supplies and aside from making sure her companions don't forget food, firewood, tents, and bandages, is content to go to bed early in the name of being well rested. "The portable hole was a good idea, but I'm for bed - we're going to want to start early if we're to explore the fullness of the mountain for Mistress Athena."
"Truly. Kobolds, ugh. At least we'll be in the mountains. You'll like snow if we see any, Amy." Clara grins, then settles down. "Provision today, teleport in the morning? That let's everyone rest, and prepare for trouble. I for one would like a bath before we do the risking our lives bit, if only because I know I won't feel truly clean for a while. As our new employer I am now at liberty to inform you that when we return from this expedition we will almost certainly reek. I advise having soap, water, bandages, and clothes you deem modest on hand, but we'll find out all we can of this mountain for you.
"That sounds simple enough, although I think we'll have to prevail upon you for supplies, mapmaking parchment if you wish maps, books if you want journals. The usual expectations. Oh, and of course we'll need permission to copy to our best ability or simply take descriptions of any of the knowledge contained within the mountain should we find that procuring the originals would end in the usual unpleasantness or an unfortunate final death by kobold craftsmanship. It's part of our standard recovery disclaimer. Only a soon to be dead idiot pulls the sacred book of forty-two levers from the kobold high shelf in the clockwork device, I'm sure you understand." Clara is crisply businesslike, then goes back to her easy smile. "Now the dragon, that's easy."
Clara rolls her eyes at fuego's milady, and grins at Thor. Then composing herself as she can, she offers a handshake to the wizard. "Good morning again mistress mage. I'm Clara in service of Shelyn, we met at that baptismal ceremony, with the..." She pauses, then continues with an apologetic smile at Thor. "With the satyr. You were amazing. We'd love to help with the Mountain, exploration is one of our favorite things."
Clara concentrates on the dog without really thinking about it, then apologizes.
"Sorry, habit when presented with talking creatures. It's terribly human of me I know. Let's try again. Hello, and thank you for the offering. How did you pour the tea? It looks lovely." She seems genuinely curious.
"Thank you min, you were a friendly ride. Here, have an apple and there's some grass. I'll just tie you loosely here then." Clara ties off her horse and looks around, then heads after Ahadiel and Amy. "Ah wizard towers. I always enjoy the little details. The intricate self opening doors and levered gates, and yet I never see a wizard with a wrench. Why is that?"
Clara wakes up early, spends tending the garden behind the inn as the sun rises, then goes to help Lila in the kitchen. She smiles as the others come down, and takes a chance to eat some fruit before picking up her pack from the corner. "Big day ahead of us, best to be started quickly that we end early. The horses are saddled and I even remembered to grab apples." She sets them on the table as she sits, leaning the pack against her chair, and speaks quietly. "Just in case they aren't used to armor, eh, Ahadiel? Everyone knows the drill by now, touch my arm and don't stray too far if you want a link. I'll refresh them at lunch. Erastil bless this meal." She murmurs a few extra words in celestial, nodding at each of her companions as the spell completes, then sets to finishing the meal. As she finishes, her pack falls over and she picks it up, brushing imaginary dust off of it. "Sorry, I should know better. Let's get on the road soon, too many temptations for imaginary friends." She grimaces as the empty glass edges towards her, then reaches out to set it on it's side on the tray where it won't be in trouble.
Clara mulls it over a moment, then smiles up at the matron. "Of course Lila, we'd be glad to help Athena. She's been more than kind to us in the past if a bit of a riddle. Her tower is only a little bit out of our way in any case if I remember right. Half a day north, turn left at the old troll bridge, follow that tiny stream until we see the tower then ride straight for it right? We'd be going that way to get to the River in any case." Clara looks into her glass forlornly, then sighs and pushes it towards Ahadiel and Etna. "Here you go old balance, young trouble, you can finish this. If we're going to be riding tomorrow I'm for bed. No sense embarrassing myself on horseback more than usual." With a final wave Clara heads to the stairs.
Can we swap it so she recently got stuck in the familiar body when her original body went into a coma or some such and we're trying to find her a new body in dragon mountain? I -like- Amy, doing the 'new girl' routine on her is less fun than doing the 'save our amy' routine, and they're both well understood tropes. They have the same level of 'being uncertain about the future' for the character, but they make it a lot easier for the rest of us to connect to her. Just a thought - let the rest of us know which one sounds better to you and we'll dance that way.
One thing to note, I have a large chemistry exam on the first of May, so my posting may slow down for a few weeks before then. I just figured I'd give a heads-up a bit in advance so all of you could know. Ok, so sketching out quick conclusion adventures to finish up a timeline for you. Memorable Items Remaining:
A heirloom starknife passed down through many generations
A cache of scrolls Adamantine Morningstar Breastplate +2, At level 6 we found an underground railway out of the ioun smuggler den. We tracked down the mistress of the engine, a varisian witch. She had the heirloom starknife and a cache of scrolls. She also had a letter of introduction to a weapon and armor auction, and instructions to purchase a morningstar to make contact with the smith. At level 7 we followed up on the instructions, and infiltrated a black market auction. We bought the item, and were contacted to assassinate a fiend. The reward would be information about the weapon's forging. We fought our way into the fiend's bolt hole and dispatched them, keeping the breastplate of a fallen adventurer, and were given the information on Korissa and Franklin. So that leaves us with this timeline. Timeline- Level 2 A Pathfinder Never Forgets, Except on Thursday.
If anyone wants to flesh out the level 6, 7 or 9 adventures, feel free. They're the thinnest, but we've done some good things along the way and we only got captured that one time! Go team hero.
Well a simple thing. We were contacted by an old pathfinder and curator of a museum to investigate the disappearance of a few artifacts. Nothing major theoretically. Well the old pathfinder gave us a few items of his glorious times past, like his old wayfinder, or a ring of protection he wore in those days and his traveler´s anytool. Done, what was this old pathfinder's name and which museum? Wouldn't want to mis-attribute his valor when someone asks after all! Outstanding Details: A Pathfinder Never Forgets, Except on Thursday.
Danger Dwarven Mines Are Haunted!
Timeline:
Level 2 A Pathfinder Never Forgets, Except on Thursday. Level 3 Danger Dwarven Mines Are Haunted! Level 4 Bad Place For A Paladin Level 5 The Ioun Smugglers Level 6 <You Decide!> Level 7 <You Decide!> level 8 Korissa the Black and Franklin Jekyll level 9 <A Cloud Giant Assassin> level 10 Dragon Mountain. Ok let's assume Red Mantis Assassin for the level 9 adventure with the giant's sword. Looks like a cloud giant is about the right level to qualify, so we'll do that. Now for tying it into the Korissa and Franklin we'll say they were crafting for the giant as well. Maybe we found a cast for an enormous greaves discarded in the forge with traces of elysian bronze. Hrm. While I think about that a bit, we still need a level 6 and 7 adventure to bridge the Ioun Smugglers to Korrissa if someone has an idea for a nice middle section. Anyone want to take a stab at it? Here's the list of items again for inspiration. Memorable Item Game: A heirloom starknife passed down through many generations A cache of scrolls Adamantine Morningstar Breastplate +2,
So Mote it Be. Formatted Drow Reveal:
Ok that was gruesome but reminded me of RA Salvatore and was so very drow. Now we know why J'Victus got those scars. I edited it a bit to make it easier to reference, and spoilered it to keep this post giant bite sized. Taking out the elven curved blade and bow, we're left with this. Memorable Item Game:
Ring of sustenance A heirloom starknife passed down through many generations An ancient hunter's sight A wand of technological design A wayfinder, from his time as a pathfinder A warhammer gifted from a cleric of Torag with dwarven runes of Friendship. A cache of scrolls A Gargantuan Resizing Sawtooth Sabre Traveler's Any Tool Lesser Elemental Rod(Acid) Adamantine Morningstar Breastplate +2, Ring of deflection +1 We're definitely fleshing out a nice skeleton of adventures. Sounds like we have two ideas for what's next. I'm going to do Ahadiel's task for the dwarves first, then come back for gargantuan swords. Glancing at our list when thinking about clearing out a haunted mine for a Warhammer, I see a ring of sustenance, and an Ancient Hunter's sight that look to be in the right range. Remembering that we need to link up to the next adventure (Bad Paladins) we drop in the remaining lesser rod. So the adventure ends with a derro and a cultist that get away into the worldwound to link forward to the smugglers and to the Bad Paladin quests, and with a set of dwarven questgivers. Sounds about right for a level 3 party! That leaves a level 2 adventure for the ring of deflection, the extra wayfinder, the traveler's tool and introducing one of our former-pathfinders. Something simple in town I think, that would give us a reason to go visit dwarves near the wound. Maybe we proved ourselves to the society as a group of freelancers. I seem to remember that the pathfinder society and the 5 mountain kings are allies looking into a sky citadel in the wound? If that's cannon, then we could have had level 2 be in absalom and after it concludes, the party then takes a boat towards the worldwound with some dwarves to try and find an old mine that they thought might let us bypass the demons. Hijinks ensue, we make it out alive, a derro and a cultist get out. The derro was involved with the smuggler operation, the cultist was involved with the daemons. We got the dwarves back to the boat where they promised to follow up on the derro while we went after the cultist. Sounds about right. That means we need some names. Adventures Still Needing Details
Getting close to done, but we've come up with a lot of great adventures so far. Memorable Item Game:
A heirloom starknife passed down through many generations A cache of scrolls A Gargantuan Resizing Sawtooth Sabre Traveler's Any Tool Adamantine Morningstar Breastplate +2, Ring of deflection +1 That Gargantuan resizing sabre probably goes at level 7 or 9 to get a suitable giant. Timeline: Level 2 <Absalom Adventure? something with ring of deflection/traveler's tool>
Ok! Rygil Ramsbottom, Leader of the Ioun Smugglers, Deceased.
Love it. So that leaves the following still in search of names: Bad Crowd for a Paladin
And to keep it simple here's the spoilered list again with the runestone and resistance cloak now skirt taken out. What other heroic thing did we all do to get this stuff? Memorable Stuff Game: Elven Curved Blade Ring of sustenance A heirloom starknife passed down through many generations An ancient hunter's sight A wand of technological design A wayfinder, from his time as a pathfinder
A cache of scrolls A Gargantuan Resizing Sawtooth Sabre
Lesser Elemental Rod(Acid)
Sure, so we can try to figure out a suitable unholy encounter for a vicious longsword. That's a +2 weapon, so 8000 gp. Divide by 3 since we're having it on an NPC =>2333. That fits into a CR 5-7 range, so we were level 4 or 5? Ok. That's right before the Ioun Smugglers, so maybe one of the people we rescued from that adventure was a thief with the classic "I'll renounce thieving" trope, and he clued us into the ioun smugglers later. So that works out, now we're looking for unholy, which means Daemons, and we're level 4 so CR 5-7 Daemons. The biggest thing that stands out is incubus/succubus show up for the first time at this level. Let's assume we fought some of them, and then as the 'end' of that adventure discovered an Antipaladin wielding that vicious longsword. That works out pretty well - Now it's time to take a look at the other items and see if any of them also fit. Memorable Item Copy Paste:
Elven Curved Blade
Runestone of Power (2nd level) Cloak of resistance +2 (which she converted to a Skirt of Resistance. As she wants No Capes, well in this case cloak.) Ring of sustenance A heirloom starknife passed down through many generations
A wayfinder, from his time as a pathfinder
a training cestus that imbues her with supernatural reaction time
A Gargantuan Resizing Sawtooth Sabre
Lesser Rod of Extend
We can fit a couple more of the 8k items into an adventure about daemons corrupting priests and paladins since if we assume some of the demons encountered were summoned by former priests now cultists that gives a few encounters with no loot and bumps the others up. That also gives us some reasons to find spellcaster stuff, and we've got a pile of it still. We've upgraded the encounter from 'maybe a single fallen paladin' to 'a cult of daemon worshippers led by an antipaladin' so that's good too since it means we can use any escapees here as recurring bad guys. We'll need a name for the cult, an appropriate enemy diety, and probably a name for our <Antipaladin>, an <Arcane Caster>, and maybe one of the <priest of Iomadae/Vildeis>. Let's give this antipaladin the Parade Armor, maybe it's from before he fell so it's nation is Mendev. The crusader's cross might be tied in here as well as a quest reward from the church of Iomadae. We can put two of the Lesser Rods into this encounter as well - Reach makes sense for priests, as does Extend. That helps link the encounter backwards as well since that Elemental Rod could have been found earlier with a maker's mark which is how we ended up at the church in the first place. Finally we'll have the training cestus show up here as well as the cold iron cestus as a way to get past DR. Ok that sounds like a tidy little adventure. We showed up to ask the Church of <Vildeis/Iomadae> about a metamagic rod we found on a previous adventure when we were 3, they said yes they recognized it but <Priest who Needs a name> hasn't been seen since he and his scouting party went missing along the worldwound. Can we check it out for them? Here's their last known position and an cold iron cestus in case of demons, you'll know you found the right person when you find a similar one. We said sure, and found More Than We Bargained For (tm). One slog through the gaping mass of daemonic debauchery later, we brought home the remains of the former priests and agreed to spread the word of their fall and how the church had <Eradicated them/Brought Them To Justice> (depends which of Vildeis or Iomadae's church this is) and received gifts accordingly. (We could even have had quests from both, that seems in keeping with Mendev Crusade stuff in general.) Let's say that the daemons were working for Nocticula, since they were succubi, but the <arcane caster> up above was working for Haagenti. Choices for someone to make about this adventure: Bad Crowd for a Paladin
Choices still lingering from previous Adventures: Ioun Smugglers
Korissa
Ok, so our updated timeline looks like this: Level 4 - Bad Crowd for a Paladin
Updating our item game we have: Memorable Item Game:
Elven Curved Blade Runestone of Power (2nd level) Cloak of resistance +2 (which she converted to a Skirt of Resistance. As she wants No Capes, well in this case cloak.) Ring of sustenance A heirloom starknife passed down through many generations
A wayfinder, from his time as a pathfinder
A cache of scrolls A Gargantuan Resizing Sawtooth Sabre
Lesser Elemental Rod(Acid)
What else catches someone's eye?
Ok so we fought a young/adult dragon and got a 4500gp piece of armor at least. So next we need to find a suitable dragon. CR 9 is a Young Blue, CR 10 Adult White, or CR 11 Adult Black. The blue dragons prefer cities, whites frozen, black swamp. Since we're working off a chain shirt, I'm going to pick the black dragon since their loot says it has a bias for metal items that don't dissolve in a swamp. That also ties in well with the previous adventure hook of a cache of gems from a smuggler. So at level 8 we fought an Adult Black Dragon in a swamp. That's interesting. For an intelligent NPC encounter of CR 11, we'd expect to find between 13,500 and 31,500 gp worth of treasure, and the chain shirt we started with is about 4500. Let's see what else we think a dragon might like from our list. Memorable stuff list:
Elven Curved Blade Runestone of Power (2nd level)
A mithral chain shirt woven from dragon scale
A wayfinder, from his time as a pathfinder
a training cestus that imbues her with supernatural reaction time
A Gargantuan Resizing Sawtooth Sabre
Lesser Rod of Extend
Standouts to me - That amulet of Natural Armor makes sense for a dragon, same with the various mithral pieces given the black dragon preference for metal. I was originally going to just categorize the 34lbs of mithral as miscelaneous hunks but it's probably easier to carry around as bars so maybe she was collecting armor to melt down and make herself a set of mithral plate barding. Of course, she hadn't finished melting down the medium armor and had only 34 bars at 1lb a piece of the expected 50 for a set of large mithral fullplate. That sounds workable as a start, let's see how close to the right value we're at with just those bits We can always add more later if we're way off. We have 2000 (amulet) + 4300 (Kilted kikko) + 4150 (chainmail) + 17,000 (bars) => 27,450. That's about right, particularly if we assume since it's a swamp that we'd had a few fights against minions before we got to the hoard. We're still missing a hook to another adventure so let's toss the Staff of minor arcana (8000 gp) into the pile. Probably carried by some caster working for the dragon. Updating the Memorable Item game then with those removed we get this list: Memorable Item Game:
Elven Curved Blade Runestone of Power (2nd level)
A heirloom starknife passed down through many generations
A wayfinder, from his time as a pathfinder
a training cestus that imbues her with supernatural reaction time
A Gargantuan Resizing Sawtooth Sabre
Lesser Rod of Extend
Anyone else want to take a stab at something we defeated in the past? Our timeline of defeated adversaris thus far - Level 5 The Ioun Smugglers, Level 8 Korrissa The Black and her <Caster Minion/Partner> (name still undetermined)
So memorable item game - here's a copy/paste job so it's all in one place. I trimmed fuego's stuff a bit since we don't have to track every potion when building party backstory (the goal is a general overview of things we did, not recreating every encounter). Memorable stuff start:
Elven Curved Blade Hat of Disguise Handy Haversack Runestone of Power (2nd level)
A mithral chain shirt woven from dragon scale
A wayfinder, from his time as a pathfinder
a fedora of disguise
A Gargantuan Resizing Sawtooth Sabre
Lesser Rod of Extend
So just looking over the list it's pretty easy to pick out some opponent's we've defeated. I'll say we clearly fought some kind of smuggler/thieves group when we were around level 5 or 6 - we have haversacks/paypack, hat of disguise, and it's reasonable that someone there wore that corset of vishyanka. Sounds like a nice end to an adventure for us so I'll say the burglar's torc was a clue from an earlier encounter and we ended up maybe chasing after an ioun shipment gone wrong? We do seem to have a few former pathfinders, or perhaps we merely found their wayfinders. So that's one of our previous adventures - we broke up a gem smuggling ring that was moving ioun stones. We got the clue from a torc we found in an earlier adventure, but what was that adventure? What else do people see in the list? Memorable stuff remaining: Elven Curved Blade Runestone of Power (2nd level)
A mithral chain shirt woven from dragon scale
A wayfinder, from his time as a pathfinder
a training cestus that imbues her with supernatural reaction time
A Gargantuan Resizing Sawtooth Sabre
Lesser Rod of Extend
Couple of default actions for Clara that can be assumed by the GM. I'll include buffed values in her statline. Default Actions Life Link:Clara maintains life link with the non-paladin/warpriest heroes in general travel. (Paladins/Warpriests have their own use of lay on hands/fervor) If we're in a dungeon I assume she'll keep it on everyone. Buffs, Party
Buffs, Self
Checking in. Hi Partymates - here's a quick way to build some backstory for us as a party. It's the memorable item game. Everyone looks over their gear and pick out a few pieces and lists them off, then we work as a party to come up with the sketch of the adventure that character got them from. The item doesn't have to be magical, and if it is magical it doesn't have to be particularly strange, you can fluff your cloak of resistance as some dark furred cape with elaborate alchemical signs on it or it can just be a red cloak with some arrow holes in it. Just give us a selection of 4-8 things. Here's my selection of memorables that are likely loot from earlier adventures in no particular order: A Gargantuan Resizing Sawtooth Sabre
So from my list in our past we could have fought a Giant Assassin to get that sword, or we could have fought a djinn and had to saw parts of it's scimitar off to get the blade free of the ground. If we each do this we'll get an easy 30 to 60 bits of background story for the party to hang things off of really quickly. |
