G_M Narrator's page

Jester's jaws crush the head of the crab/scorpion thing.
It's actually rather tasty. The remaining three on the beach scatter into the waves as they realise there is a scarier predator on the beach.

Jester runs along the side of the cliff, and sure enough, where the cliff curves away lies a sheltered shore. Jester manages to glide down without issue. There are some large (for crabs) crab like creatures moving along the beach just beyond the waves, picking at morsels brought in by the current. They each have two large pincers which grasp at the air, while a finned tail bristling with a long, thin stinger rises from behind

Unfortunately Jester notes that he cannot see the wreck from where he lands, and can only catch glimpses through the stone spears.

By now the rain has stopped and the waves have calmed. The sky is still dark as silent lightning streaks across the clouds.

Lamb sees the man on the boat drop the dingy into the waves and rush inside.
A few moments later he returns dragging what seems to be a corpse, which he drops into the boat before dropping in himself and beginning to row towards Jester's alcove.
Lamb can see some of the same crabs, as those on the beach, crawling up the rock formations towards the wreck.

Unfortunately there is no shore here for Jester to glide down to, just sharp rocks and waves.
No manageable slope here. Climb dc is 20, rough surface 15 +5 for slippery. The waves are 40 ft below you, but you can climb onto the ship about 25ft down. Jester could glide to the ship though.

You can see that further along the cliff in the direction you were travelling the cliff curves inland, and you can see another cliff face farther away, curving back out to sea.

You guys had your own reasons for heading the way you did initially. Your motivation may have changed. This was a bit of an awkward situation as there is little in the way of things I could drop into this situation to push you one way or another, because you are in the middle of a forest. Now that you are moving, at all, I can give you something to interact with.

As you walk the trail winds through the forest and eventually winds to the edge of a cliff. A sheer drop into the cold surf on one side, and the dark green of the woods on the other.
The sea here is whipped into a frenzy by the storm going on overhead. spray from the waves crashing into the rocks below, carried on strong winds up the cliff face, stings your eyes and the salt burns your nose.

A ship is visible in the distance. Tossed about, as if a toy, on monstrous waves.
The ship is sailing directly towards the jagged rocks lining the edge of the island.
As the ship nears you note that there are no crew on deck bar two men fighting at the helm, and a woman watching. The name Jenivere is painted on the ships prow.
The rain, thunder and wind are quiet compared to the tearing of wood as the ship is impaled on the rocks.
There is nothing you could do to help. You can do naught but stand and watch as the ship cracks and splinters, water flowing through massive tears into the lower decks.

The force of the collision separates the men on deck.
The man now visible as the captain diving overboard with the woman, and the second man, clutching his side, moves to lower a small dingy into the calming waves.

As you stand in the woods debating on which direction to follow the path, the skies begin to darken, and rain begins to fall in thick sheets, heavy enough that even among the thick trees you are getting drenched.
The change of weather is very sudden leaving you looking up at a blue sky at one moment, and a black rolling cloud the next. Lightning arks across the clouds, but the expected peel of thunder doesn't come.

The skies are clear of horrid monsters, however it seems that Jester is not the only one wary of... whatever it was. The sounds of life, only now, slowly returning.

The apelike beast turns on Jester, snarling, blood and saliva flying from it's gaping maw as it roars before lunging to attack.

Claw: 1d20 + 10 - 2 ⇒ (17) + 10 - 2 = 251d6 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16
Claw: 1d20 + 10 - 2 ⇒ (18) + 10 - 2 = 261d6 + 10 ⇒ (3) + 10 = 13
Bite: 1d20 + 10 - 2 ⇒ (8) + 10 - 2 = 161d8 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11

Its claws rip large clumps of scales and flesh from Jester's back as it's jaws close around his neck.

A look of panic flashes across Jester's eyes. Jester is at -10HP The ape drops Jester from it's jaws turning back towards Lamb. Jester lies among the leaves, his body broken.

Lamb and wolf, both transfixed on the collapse of their companion, see little other than a blur as the apelike beast is dragged upwards into the sky by a pair of leathery, black wings. The wet crunch of bones, as the ape is knocked off it's feet reverberates through them, sickening them.

In a moment the forest is quiet once again.
The only evidence the ape was ever there, the blood soaked leaves and Jester, lying at an impossible angle.

One of Jester's claws rakes the back of the creature, causing it to rear slightly in pain.

The arrow does indeed fly wide as the beast leaps from the tree in a long arc, directly at Lamb.

Claw: 1d20 + 13 - 2 - 1 ⇒ (2) + 13 - 2 - 1 = 12
Claw: 1d20 + 13 - 2 - 1 ⇒ (3) + 13 - 2 - 1 = 13
Bite: 1d20 + 13 - 2 - 1 ⇒ (17) + 13 - 2 - 1 = 271d8 + 10 ⇒ (3) + 10 = 13

Due to twisting awkwardly in the air the beat cannot bring it's claws to bare properly, but it's powerful jaw crushes bone in Lambs shoulder.

Beast -18

Jester misses the beast as it turns to change positions as does wolf.
Party is up, the beast is 30 foot up a tree

The beast howls an absolutely terrifying scream as it runs to a tree and begins to climb.
DC 15 Will save or shaken for 1d4 rounds
Also one AoO each as it flees, after the roar

One of Jester's claws and his teeth pierce the beasts hide, inflicting some damage.
Beast -11
Party <-

Perhaps it is not their time yet, perhaps it is. Time will tell when it is time for one's time to come.

As you move further a burst of sound and movement in the undergrowth just off the path startles you slightly. A pair of rabbits bolt away from you further into the wilderness.

Init Jester: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13
Init Lamb: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
Init Wolf: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20
Init Beast: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

Beast
Party <-

The monstrous beast from before lunges out from behind a tree, under a pile of leaves. You quickly notice that there is blood matting it's fur and a horrifyingly wild look in it's eyes.
Who: 1d3 ⇒ 3
A blood soaked claw streaks towards Wolf.
Claw: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (10) + 10 = 201d6 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

Whoops

The game will be an updated version of Caverns of Thracia, for pathfinder rules.

The gist of it is that there are a bunch of ruins of an ancient civilisation. These ruins have always been dangerous but the artifacts they might contain could be worth huge sums of money.
As such groups of adventures strike out from the closest villages to attempt to plunder the ruins of their valuables and make off with a neat profit.

Hi all

Let's try keep this simple.
I want to play more. Not via PbP. I have struck upon a solution.

An "Open-Table"
What this means is that anyone can join for any session they can make, and if they can't make the next session the game goes on regardless.
The goal is to make it more accessible, let people play if they can and not feel like they need to be committed to an entire campaign.

Before I go through the effort of converting the book into Pathfinder rules I want to see if there is enough interest to warrant the effort.

I am thinking of using roll20 and sessions will be whenever I feel like, or enough people want to play and I can GM, and we can get 4 players.

So... Say hi if you are interested

As the group continues the rest of the journey to the woods is uneventful.

Stopping on the edge of the woods, you look into a dark and shrouded place. The sun only reaches through the canopy in isolated shafts of light, and even those seem to be muted. The smell of damp assaults you as a stiff breeze blows down the path towards you, far too chill for the warm day.

Perception checks all around!

The forest rises up towards you as you make your way to the path.
Half an hour passes as you walk. The going is slow until you meat with the path at the crest of the valley. What once might have been well kept is now overgrown and little more than a footpath for animals.

You can tell it will be another hour before you can reach the edge of the woods were the trail disappears into the dark beneath the canopy.

I will pause here to give you all a moment to talk to each other

It turns out the plateau is not so much a plateau as a step up from the marsh before the mountains. Standing on the cliff edge a breeze carries the smell of the sea. The sun is warm against your face, the light bright in your eyes, reflected of the waves in the distance and the green canopy of the dense forest beneath you.

Looking to the West you can notice the stairs you climbed and the cliff curving around beyond the foot of the mountains.
Looks in the region of 3 miles

To the East lies a valley that cuts the cliff, with trees thick all the way to the rocky slopes where the mountains start to climb.
Running into the forest you can see what might have once been a path, and you can see where it snakes it's way up the valley side and curves around the foothills there. About 6 miles

As the sun passes it's zenith there is once again a disturbance on the edge of the woods.
Trees shift and birds flutter as the beast in the woods leaves. Deciding that its time is better spent hunting elsewhere.

The smell lingers for a while yet and wolf can calm down by the time the sun is setting.

The town is dead. No wind blows through shutters, and no insects split the silence of the night.

Eventually the new day dawns as the sun rises and light shines through the boards on the windows.

The desk, like the rest of the room, is plain but well made. But there are some interesting items on the tabletop. There is an ink and quill, but the quill is made from a bird feather Gwen has never seen before and the ink well is mother of pearl. Besides that there is an old portrait in a small frame. In the dark it is hard to tell more than that it us off a lady on the back of a cart with a baby in her arms.
Investigating the draws reveals they are all empty except for one which contains a book. A holy text of Asmodeous

The room is cosy, not large but not too small either. The furnishings are all well made and sturdy, with hallmarks of quality wares. You can tell that money has been spent, but not ostentatiously.
The large bed sits in the middle of the room with a dark wood chest at the foot of the bed. In the corner stands a wardrobe and off to one side stands a desk and chair. Two large cushioned chairs sit opposite.

The flat surfaces of the small tables collect small items from the wide reaches of where Jakob and Elizabeth used to trade.

Pounce is DENIED

Eidolons get evasion bonus at 2

For something built primarilly by beings with no hands, the final product is surprisingly sturdy, however it does take most of the day.

As they work, Wolf keeps an eye trained on the edge of the woods. There is still the odd disturbance of a branch and a 'wrong' smell on the breeze

There is movement in the leaves as if the beast still sits there, however it doesn't break the cover of the trees. After a while the scene stills and the leaves stop moving.

Clothes, oh so so many old clothes

1m by 0.5 by 0.5, the lid is just hinged, no lock or anything

The house is much like the one that they reside in. The layout is different but the style and contents are similair.

The door opens onto stairs that lead down to a hallway on the upper floor of the building, flanked by rooms with beds and cupboards and chests. The lower floor contains a kitchen and a large communal room

The splintering bones of the crushed skull, fortunately, do not embed themselves in Jesters mouth.

However a mouth full of bones does make the brains a bit more difficult to enjoy

The bite that Wolf takes out of the monkey, happens to be the monkey's throat and it collapses in a pool on flailing limbs and blood.

All the monkeys start to howl again as they start to run away at full tilt, climbing walls and leaping across gaps between buildings

As he starts getting purchase on his climb the 2 monkeys on the other roof start to run away.
The one that bit you starts to run only once you clear the lip of the roof.

From the rooftops around you you start to hear screeching and howling.
Attacks: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 91d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 241d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 231d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 221d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 151d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
Confirm: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22
Two piles of poop manage to connect with Jester, one manages to hit him square in the face. It manages to get in his eyes and makes it difficult to see.
You can discern shapes within 10 ft, beyond that everything is a blur.

The monkeys panic as Jester barely makes the jump.
One of the monkeys jumps towards Jester and tries to bite him
Bite: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7 1 non lethal damage

Init 1: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17
Init 2: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20
Init 3: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22
Init 4: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
Init 5: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Init 6: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21
Init 7: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12
Init 8: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10
Init 9: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18
Init 10: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22
Init 11: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9

The creature continues to feast for a moment before it turns to look at the town. It stands for a while on the edge of the woods before turning back.

After a while you can hear the monkeys begin to call to each other and move about.

One climbs the side of the building you stand on and is startled by your presence, and quickly becomes panicked as it sees wolf.

It starts to howl out cries as it jumps across to the roof next to you, where it is joined by 2 more a few seconds later.

As they talk the beast pulls open the skull of the slain monkey, and begins to devour the contents, messily

A monkey trailing behind the rest breaks out of the trees.
As it does a long, shaggy, muscular arm snatches it from the air and beats the monkey against a nearby tree. The crack of it's skull is audible even at this distance.

After a moment the beast steps into the clearing and to raises itself onto its hind legs and beats its chest like a gorilla. Despite its ape-like stance, its frame is far heavier and its features more primitive, its powerful muzzle and gnashing canines bespeaking terrible, bestial savagery.

As it beats on its chest it lets out a roar. Any creatures within a 300-foot spread must make a DC 15 Will save or become shaken for 1d4 rounds. This is a sonic mind-affecting fear affect.

There are ominous rumbling and creaks as boards are pried off, yet the wall hold. Jester does however get a pile of old dusty hay on his head for his effort.

Everything gets dragged back to the house by our intrepid builders.
As work progresses a cacophany can be heard from the edge of the woods and a troop of 11 monkeys come barreling out of the woods.

Lamb starts to read. The scrawl is hurried and messy, smudges obscure some words.

The screams... Howls... I could hear it from the edge of the wood.
My blood curdled at those sounds. Sounds no man should make. Animal sounds... The sounds of animals being slaughtered and slaughtering...
I ran into town, following the noise. The rooms were empty. The church was open and like a drum, the sound echoing from inside. I could see it... The blood... The people... weren't people anymore... I ran. I am back in my hut. I boarded it up. I have food and water for a while...
As I fled I heard laughing... that laughing. I can't leave the hut.
I look outside and I hear that laughing. Its in my head, it comes from everywhere... it isn't human laughing.

The page ends there and the next is simply a mass of ink as if the well was spilled in haste.

The following pages talk of fear and the laughter. They speak of his inability to leave his hut.

It reads as the last days of a mad man that hung on far longer than he deserved.

The group arrives back at the house without issue, everything is where they left it.

The book has certainly seen better days. The cover is scuffed and torn pages hang out the sides. It is tied closed with a thong.

Once opened its contents indicate the state of the hut.

The first few pages make it clear that this is a hunters journal.
It lists sightings of rare birds, and animal sightings. It tracks kills and where nothing was found on an outing. The writer's love of nature is apparent even in his killing of animals.

About two thirds of the way through the book the content changes suddenly. It no longer speaks of the actions of the hunter, but starts to speak of horrors seen in the town. It quickly devolves into ramblings of blood and screams heard as he boarded himself in his hut.

The dates of the writings are not recorded with familiar names for months and the like, but it is clear that the entries come slower and slower. They begin talking of stocks running low, and are laced with panic.

There is little else of interest to Wolf. But he does find some pelts bundled under the bed, wrapped about a book.

As the door opens the smell is enough to make people gag.
Fort saves please DC 14 or Nausea

Inside, opposite the door sits a corpse. There is no blood or signs of a fight. In the corpses hands rests a bow and next to him a quiver.

There is a pallet on the floor, a desk, workbench, and all the other basic amenities one might expect. There are also the tools of a tanner. In one of the corners stands a bucket that one would rather not look into.
There is a burnt out candle on the table and bits of old food strewn about.

Strength Checks please

The door moves slightly, and you can hear it bump into something solid on the far side.

The hut exudes a vile smell. The sound of flies can be heard within.

A drying rack stands outside with a few skins hung for working. On the Forrester side a tree stumo stands with an axe embedded in it, a stock of dry wood piled against the hut.
This was obviously a hunters hut set aside due to the smell of tanning and ofal.

There is a window to the inside that is hastily boarded up.

I was too lazy to look it up and you are close enough to the 15 that I don't mind giving you some narrative leeway instead of killing you with falling damage

Jester's glide is clumsy but effective, and he lands about halfway to the hut, in somewhat of a tumble. He comes to no harm but it is a sight of flailing wings and tail for Lamb

There are no arrows to be found in any of the areas searched by Wolf or Jester.

From her viewpoint on the tower Lamb can see that the town sits on a clearing between a forest to one side and the cliff to the other. Grassland rolls for 400 ft on either side or so.

A cabin stands nestled on the edge of the woods.

DC 95: 1d100 ⇒ 67
The night is still, with only the crackling of the wood, the snoring from the box and the slow breathing of sleep audible within the house.

Outside, owls can be heard hooting and the muffled squeak of prey can be heard on occasion.

During the night the fire dies, plunging the house into darkness except for where starlight fights it's way through cracks in shutters and ceilings.

Dawn comes without commotion. With it comes a breeze which disturbs some of the alarms, but in a way that it is obvious it is the wind. Lamb awakes to the sound of birds and windchimes.

Sure

Vonny may not have, but Lamb did, so you can retcon your use of wet grass if you like.

There is a pot hook one could easily use