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I just want to apologize to you as my players, for the game falling apart in May. With some very hectic family things (due to illness and death) I had just let this go. I'll be closing the campaign shortly. Thank you for the time you did put into it.
Hey guys, I know I've been MIA for 10 days, things have just been ridiculous. My father had a heart attack last weekend, and I've been handling everything needed for him. In short he's just gotten out of the hospital this past weekend, and things are starting to get back to normal. I need a few days to finalize sorting everything out. Between work, sleep and hospital it's been a hectic little while. Wanted to touch base. I've not disappeared entirely.
All feedback is appreciated. I'm going to look to re-recruit shortly and open it back up. I'm just a little bogged under a few things that happened unexpectedly this weekend. I'll be able to post within the next day or two.
Hemlock nods weighing the information "Very well, it's unfortunate the Amulet wasn't found, but it could have been in a myriad of places. In fact" He looks over to the elf woman "That is why Shalelu is in town. There have been a lot of Goblin activities in the area." Shalelu speaks in a very melodic and soothing voice, her eyes convey a sharpness matched by her elven beauty "Yes, particularly around Thistletop"
I appreciate the feedback, and as a first time PbP GM, i'll do what I can to pick up the pace so we can move along a faster and get things going. After Gudada weighs in, I'm leaning towards opening recruitment and taking on an additional 2-3.
So I've sent PM's to both Kesni and Rogar. No response. How long would you like to wait? How are you three feeling? We would need to refill to continue. 4-player is how I was hoping to run everything. I could look to fill 3 spots and we get back up to 6? I certainly hope it wasn't the pacing, I'm certainly open to feedback as to how you're feeling, what you're thinking and such.
The two young militia men standing guard outside of the garrison almost looks startled as you ask for the Sheriff. One of them snaps out of it " Umm...oh, the Goblinslayers. Yes, of course. I'll take you to him. This way" he nods to his partner, and waves you with him, inside through the garrison. You follow him through what seems like an infinite number of intersecting pathways and stone cobbled walls. Eventually the room opens up into a larger what one would call 'War' room. The wooden floor creaks underfoot. Sheriff Hemlock is there speaking with an elven woman. He notices you and waves you over to the table they're both standing around. A map of the area is open on the table.
Sheriff Hemlock is currently located in the Garrison. Easterly of the tannery.
He nods, inspecting the size of the bear once more, the very nice pelt catching his eye, and the relatively little damage to it. "I could surely arrange that" He enters his shop to return with a small sack of gold. "Thank you kindly"
Want to check in make sure Kesni and Rogar are still on board.
"Well, that sounds fair. How does 87 gold sound? I think I can get that fairly for this" He continues examining the bear. "Is there anything else I can do for you other than this?"
Excellent, I'm glad to hear that. Check Azorius and Rast. Just making sure Kesni, Gudada and Rogar are still in. I know the story has been a little slower, I can pace it up a bit if you'd guys would like. Other than my average of 1 post monday - friday.
Just checking in with everyone. How we feeling?
He smiles briefly as the Elf and the Orc introduce themselves, the hesitation towards the Orc slowly diminishing as the clear spoken common comes through. Larz nods the startle ending as if Gudada's answer is clearly the obvious answer "Yes, absolutely." He looks at the beast inspecting it from a distance. "Holy seven hells. An impressive beastie in either case. I'm glad to see such a specimen" He walks over and begins inspecting it in various fashions. Moving along the body, opening it's mouth, checking the size of it's appendages. "You'd be willing to sell it to me?", he looks back at the group.
Larz visibly surprised by four people and a rather dead bear, see's a man pick up some buckets and starts moving them inside "Uh...bear you say..." he stands up wiping his hands on a rather stained leather apron. "Have we uh...met?" he asks, looking at the group, marginally intimidated by the orc's and vaguely recognizing the man in the bandanna. Larz is a rather short man, standing at just over 5'3, he's very lean. You would be surprised if he weighed 100 lbs soaking wet. The sinews of his wrists clearly visible as he rolls his shirt midway up forearm are very small one would almost say dainty, but what you take note of is a very strange star-like tattoo. Although surprised his eyes are sharp and he appears to be taking you all in very quickly.
The tannery itself smells of varying chemicals. It's located on the eastern riverbank of the town. Larz is currenlty out on the dock bordering the river of his establishment filling up a few buckets to take them back inside.
Dragging the bear corpse back to town, you find yourself coming in through the north end of the town. The light of day has faded to early evening, and compared to the business of the morning, the activity seems rather muted. It's only a 15 minutes by foot to the Tannery where the bear can be properly taken care of and distributed. Knowedge Check - Tannery:
DC 12 - The Tannery is run by Larz Rovanky, known for relatively well made products. Known as a trustworthy fellow DC 18 - The Tannery is connected to the Scarnetti's. DC 22 - The Scarnetti's use this as a front for some of their more legitimate money, it's connected to the Lumber Mill. DC 24 - Ibor Thorn works double shifts at both the Mill and the Tannery.
You're recognized and hailed as you walk into town. One of the first people you see is an elderly woman approaching you. She waves and with a broad smile exclaims "Oh the Goblinslayers, wait a moment, I've made this for you....Just a second here" She reaches into her basket pulling out small loaves of bread, before you can refuse she literally forces one into each of your hands saying "It's my famous corn recipe, thank you so much for what you did the other day" she smiles and continues hobbling off. The bread does smell delicious and after a day out in the forest, the first smell of fresh food other than trail rations is appetizing.
Unless there's anything else you'd like to do in the clearing, I gather from what you're saying, the Party is heading back to town?
And to you. Sorry we never got to see what could have been an excellent character interplay and exchange ha ha.
I had a good build I was looking to roll out down the road, but alas perhaps for another day.
Rogar listens as the conversation continues, his stoic demeanor unaffected.
Our heroes realizing that the tracks trail off into the rest of the ravines and no longer able to track them find no sign of the seven pointed amulet. It's faint magical aura can be felt but for the time being it seems out of their grasp.
The balance to the forest restored, the sounds of the forest are more noticeable. To Kesni things seem more level than prior to the hunt.
You find a few additional weapons when searching the Goblin corpses, however no amulet is in sight.
The sled takes approximately 20 minutes to properly construct, and mounting the bear a dozen more. The afternoon sun glitters through the treetops, and the heat of midday begins to cool off.
Guadada finds roughly about 1gp 32sp worth of coins, and a scattering of both damaged and rusted Goblinoid weapons. Nothing resembling the Amulet however.
You see as you kneel beside the bear, that you would need the proper set up to harvest the meat. It's a 250 pound bear, and to drain it, skin it and have useful meat, you'd be better off dragging it into town. Your experience being mostly with Goblins and smaller creatures, you're confident that you could harvest approximately 20 lbs of non tainted meat, some of the organs, and some of the bones and a third of the hide for usage. If you took it into town and had access to a tannery you may be able to salvage more.
After Gudada strikes the bear with his Rapier, it turns to flee, grunting in pain as it moves. The arrow sent by Kesni hits its target true in the hindquarter, overwhelmed by the inflicted damage, the bear drops, and after a few short seconds of panting and grunting, it dies.
The solitude of the forest returns, and a level of balance and peace returns. Small woodland creatures can be heard scurrying about, but the largest disturbance is now gone.
No others for attacks of opportunity? Letting the bear go?
Kesni's arrow strikes in the animals shoulder joint causing it to howl in extreme pain. As the second arrow and Morningstar connect, the bear starts limping backwards. It moves away and starts to run off northerly.
The energy smashes into the Bear the waves crashing before fading away.
The Bear facing Rast rends into Rast, one of the claws finding purchase. The bear starts to look around seeing multiple challengers and begins to look frightened.
The morning star strikes again connecting with the Bear. It bellows in pain and recoils from the blow. The arrow misses it's target, and the rapier doesn't quite connect through the matter fur of the creature.
The Bear feels the pain of the Morningstar in it's side, at the same time the Half-Orc bellows and slumps down.
Instinct takes it from a meal to the immediate threat. It turns roars, and lunges with it's bite focusing it's attention on Rast.
Rast's readied armor a shield blocks the teeth from connecting.
The intuition hits you almost as hard as the strike Rast landed on the bear. Although this is a predatory bear and playing dead would be a bad choice, being the less threatening creature than the Half-Orc attacking it, may make you less of a priority especially now that you're injured and bleeding everywhere.
LOL, well you did poke a bear. Literally. I have faith this skilled band of adventurers will pull through. I do sincerely apologize on the delay.
An arrow sails above the bear, as it takes no notice. Rast's Morningstar connects and crashes into the side of this large creature. It lets a howl of pain out followed by a roar.
The bear roars back in Kesni's face as being challenged.
As Kesni's mind starts to focus with the adrenaline of both combat, and the realization that this creature is in a frenzy, with the very real possibility of death starting to make itself known, she starts to feel the tinge of insight in the back of her mind.
Hopefully it was a good trip! Sorry on the delay of posting, with St Patrick's day the weekend got away from me.
As both subsequent attacks against bear miss. It takes this opportunity to tear into the half-orc salivating at the size of it's next meal.
One Claw sinks into Kesni's shoulder piercing in through the cartilage and tearing through tendons, as the other is glanced by the armor Kesni wears.
You can feel the heat of it's breath as it's weight begins pulling you down. You can see the bits of Goblin flesh in it's mouth, as fresh blood is still dripping off it's teeth.
Just waiting on Kesni (gains the additional round, as the opening shot was considered a surprise round) and Rogar to Act.
The bear rages, as it partially strikes Kesni, goblin blood dripping from it's claws and teeth. It roars as it focuses on it's lunch. Gudada's arrow, and Rast's strike are ineffective.
Well you did attack a bear, and elected to do so. They do act viciously. It was able to move through difficult terrain with it's move speed, even with the half reduced in it's difficult terrain. It did not charge however. It was kind of a thing. You are right, I mistakenly took the first attack option, which is the full round, and should not have been taken. The damage will be reduced by half, rounding up, for this mistake. Thank you for pointing it out I do appreciate it when you do. Sometimes I take the 'GM liberty' and do the 'just cause' this however is not one of those times. You may see that in the big encounters and the story focused encounters where certain liberties are taken that make things a little more interesting to Gudada's point. I'm still of the mind to make a great memorable story with excellent characters. (To that effect there are still notes I've made from your original posts, your backstories will not be missed, just a little more featured in Chapter 2) It was a mistake. My apologies. Kesni - Please update your HP damage to reflect 6 and not 12. I will put that in the gameplay thread as well.
The arrow flies through the air, however misses it's intended target clattering against the rock. The Bear, aware of the noise looks up to see the orc attacking it.
The snarling bear enrages and closes the distance towards Kesni, it doesn't charge as much as clambers towards the Half-Orc. As it starts climbing up the lower rocks it stands taller than you would imagine. Swiping at Kesni with two sharp claws, it tries to rend her apart. The look in its eyes becomes murderous as the animal attacks.
- Kesni -
You don't get the sense that it would travel much past this Ravine, as you haven't heard of any raids that the bears have on the township. - Rast - You don't see much more than what you originally saw coming into the forest. What you do notice however is that there are a set of larger footprints heading northwest from the group. It's plausible there was a larger humanoid that either a) left before the bear showed up or b) left after the bear showed up using the Goblins as a distraction.
The Bear chews on the Goblin remains, occasionally a slurp and a smack is heard as it devours the gritty remains.
It continues to eat unaware of the moving Rogue.
From what I've heard it happens. Should we lose another (I very much hope not - as I've really enjoyed seeing your contributions) I will open recruitment for 2 replacements. As we approach the end of Chapter I (which is a ways off) I can always open the recruitment back up to 'top up' if you will. For now, onward to the remainder of Part II. Part III is just around the corner!
As of yet, I have not heard back from Wyndel. For the time being I will adjust the CR of the encounters to account for one less party member. I don't particularly feel the need to recruit for a replacement as we're still above standard party, and the overlap that Rast/Wyndel had was pretty good. I however put it to a vote. Would you like to replace the 6th spot? Keep it to 5 now and leave it open on the off chance he should return?
Kesni crouching in starts to move closer and closer towards where she assumed the goblins would be. Immediately she points back to the group and waves them not to move. . A bead of cold sweat begins to run down the back of her neck as she sees not what was expected. The remains of half a dozen goblins are scattered around the western most part of the basin. They had been obscured by the rock facing. Sitting down, gnawing on half a goblin corpse is a very large Brown Bear. As of yet, Kesni is certain they are unnoticed by sight or scent (likely due to the kill being so close to the bears snout).
No worries. Look like a final plan will be coming together, once perception rolls are done, the encounter will start.
The silence of the forest is punctuated by the occasional bird chirp, or rustling in the forest/ravine as our heroes approach slowly.
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