Cadrilkasta

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126 posts. Alias of Orthos.


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Shadow Lodge

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Savage Tide happened this weekend! <fanfare!>

Savage Tide Chapter 7:
Party bid farewell to the lizardfolk and started delving into the ruins of Mantru, looking for any signs of Noltus Innersol or information about the curse of the taboo area or the Empty Ones the lizardfolk spoke of. They found a building that seemed to make Tlanextli (the will-o-wisp from an earlier chapter, now the cohort of the party Oracle/Warlock) unwilling to approach, and signs buried under years of decay, weathering, and overgrowth that the village was lost to violence before it was lost to time and nature.

As the group poked around the ruins, the sounds of approaching figures from the northwest - the route leading to the late within which the taboo temple was situated - heralded the arrival of Noltus, his dog Brogan, and four lizardfolk recruits. The excitable priest was happy to speak with the party, though he likewise avoided the building Tlanextli didn't like, and his dog didn't care for the Warlock's cat-shoggoth familiar. He regaled the party with a fuller retelling of the legends of Thanaclan and its fall, and the party caught on quickly to the mention of an enormous black pearl at the heart of its eventual destruction - insisting that they needed to join Noltus in returning into the taboo temple to not only deal with the vampires he somehow didn't encounter, but also to find and destroy any remnants of the ancient shadow pearl.

The group decided they wanted to investigate the weird northernly house that Tlanextli and Noltus wouldn't go near, and - with some magical aid - found a ghost lurking there who spoke in strained, cryptic messages in a language no one in the party knew, though the Warlock was able to translate with tongues. The spirit revealed she was keeping "the hunger" and "the stalker" at bay, and that was why Noltus couldn't approach - she claimed he was "wearing the face" of the priest, which the group deduced meant some kind of disguise or shapeshifting.

The Warlock attempted to dispel the disguise with a touch, only to remove a completely different spell he had on - and initiate hostilities. Noltus shed his disguise to reveal himself as a maurezhi or ghoul demon, and his dog bloated in size to become a horrible ape-wolf hybrid julajimus. The party moved to combat the two, which were soon joined by the four lizardfolk - vampires protected with a protection from sunlight spell - as hostilities ensued.

The battle was rough, with the party's other Oracle(/Harbinger) taking a few nasty hits from the maurezhi and getting paralyzed and nearly dying as a result, but they were able to take him, the julajimus, and two of the four lizardfolk vampires out before they had to close ranks to help the Oracle not die, which allowed the two other remaining vampires to flee. They're planning to get answers out of the ghost now that they're dealt with and everyone's still alive and healthy.

Shadow Lodge

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Savage Tide tomorrow, NWN on Sunday. Getting close to the Chapter 1 Finale events for my server plot!

Shadow Lodge

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DungeonmasterCal wrote:

Huh, after almost 37 years of gaming I finally have a name for my style of DMing. Neal Litherland posts about "river games", a middle ground between sandbox games and railroading.

Neal Litherland's "Improved Initiative"

This is exactly the balance I'm trying to strike in my latest NWN campaign, which is going to be the biggest one I've ever run. We have 160+ people signed up, split among 7 DMs. Pray for us.

Shadow Lodge

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It's done.

After two grueling battles and a long, heavily devout and soul-searching conversation by a remarkably empathetic party, Runelord Krune has gone on to his final rest, taking the enclave of Haruka with him.

The final party appealed to their shared faith in Jergal, love of arcane magic, and respect for the Runelord's remarkable capabilities to convince him to commune with his god and seek his advice. Jergal, much changed since the days of Netheril, acknowledged that his servant's time among mortals was done, and that his place was at his lord's side now.

It was a remarkably touching ending and threw me for a loop as I'd expected the usual "charge in and thrash the bad guy" adventurer tactics.

Shadow Lodge

Anyone here a lore buff on Greyhawk and/or Dragonlance? Could use some advice/suggestions.

Shadow Lodge

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DungeonmasterCal wrote:
Orthos wrote:

Tonight I have a NWN event where the party will be entering the dreamscape of an evil sword.

Savage Tide should be FINALLY resuming tomorrow. After that we have another NWN event, where my paladin is part of a group helping the newly-crowned queen of Cormyr recover some of the lost Swords of State.

Then on Sunday I'm DMside again with more Krune shenaniganry.

Please let us know about the game about the evil sword's dreamscape of the sword. I'm really intrigued by that idea.

So the entire Evil Sword plot is a personal questline for a specific PC, a half-celestial elf named Rhea who is a scion of House Starym. Starym were a noble house of Forgotten Realms's sun elves from the city of Myth Drannor in its heyday, mostly occupied by the kind of sun elves that give the subrace a bad name, snooty and highminded and incredibly insular and racist especially against humans, and most of the house abandoned the city when it was opened to non-elves.

The elves of Myth Drannor also had magical, intelligent swords called Moonblades that were wielded by the heads of the houses; their purpose was to ensure that the patri/matriarchs of each house were worthy and good people and all that jazz. The patriarch of House Starym however was a schemey, duplicitous bastage, and he managed to sneak his house's Moonblade out of MD while on a "journey into the wilderness for purification and meditation" before the "draw the sword to prove your worthy or be smited for not being so" ceremony. And while out of the city he took the sword to a hidden shrine of Moander, god of rot and corruption, and tainted it. Thus when he drew it, it didn't smite him for being a sneaky evil conniving jerk, but instead now smites anyone who isn't a Starym elf of sufficiently-pure blood.

The sword - now named Darkmoon - bounced around various Starym elves through the ages, moving from wielder to wielder and inheriting bits of their personalities and matching new magical powers as it went. The house is now pretty much extinct except for a few scattered scions throughout the Realms such as Rhea, who went on a mission to track the thing down and purify it. But it's an ancient, powerful, evil thing, so it's not exactly a cakewalk to do.

So the dream-walk they're going to be doing tonight is the next step in that particular quest.

Quote:
I'd also like to know more about the Swords of State.

The Cormyrian Swords of State are a set of six magical swords - two shortswords, two longswords, a bastard sword, and a greatsword - forged and enchanted by the Forest Kingdom over the ages. All but two - the greatsword and one of the longswords - have been lost over the ages to war, theft, accident, disaster, and so forth.

They're all big parts of the kingdom's history and the newly-crowned queen is interested in recovering them as a method of more firmly establishing her place on the throne - in our version of Forgotten Realms, things have been extremely chaotic for Cormyr over the past ten in-game years. The last king, Azoun IV, died fighting a ridiculously powerful fiendish red dragon in a big war, and his heir Tanalasta had "died" to an assassination a few years prior (she had actually been saved by the Mage-Royal and placed in a secure place in stasis; she's the newly-crowned queen who's now trying to establish herself). Following this the remaining crown heir was her son Azoun V, who was like ... an infant at the time; he was crowned and his aunt Alusair was placed as regent.

Then Alusair got herself dropped into the Far Realm during a plot and was out of commission for a few years (she's now "fine", as much as a Far-Realm-warped person can be, and ruling her own kingdom there after a failed invasion attempt was turned back by PCs and she was convinced that her place was now to rule there instead of conquer Cormyr); in her absence a Regency Council of three noble patri/matriarchs was in command over the now-age-10 king.

Then a bunch of stuff happened including a war with a Lich and his Red Wizard ally, Tanalasta was revived and put back on the throne, and now she's trying to establish her queenship and stabilize the kingdom a bit.

Shadow Lodge

In semi-unrelated news, I'm looking (distantly) to run a modified Reign of Winter for my NWN server one day, using a Spelljammer crew who have made semi-regular guest appearances and been part of small-scale "let's go travel to this other planet and do a one-shot quest for funsies!" stuff.

RoW spoilers:
I know the plot's going to start on Faerun - since that's where the server's set - and Rasputin Must Die! and Witch Queen's Revenge are going to be relatively unchanged as far as locale (plot modifications remain to be seen - I imagine there's at least a decent chance that the party/parties will decide "@#%$ it, we're helping Elvanna" rather than aid the multiversally-infamous Baba Yaga). Rather than just bouncing around Golarion's solar system otherwise, though, I want to go more Spelljammery and have the Dancing Hut lead the party/parties on a merry chance throughout the crystal spheres.

The Shackled Hut is possibly best to stay on Golarion - meaning the portals that appear in Snows of Summer will need to take people from Toril to Golarion, simple enough - to explain all the backstory stuff. What's still undecided is what to do with the other two chapters. My knee-jerk reaction is to revamp the one that's all about dragons to be set on Krynn somehow, and to plonk down the remaining one on Oerth somewhere there can be a guest appearance by Tashonna/Tasha/Iggwilv. I'm not quite familiar enough with Dragonlance (outside the barebones of the first few books) or Greyhawk to know right off the top of my head where those should go.

The alternative is to put The Shackled Hut instead on a different world somewhere, then revamp Witch Queen's Revenge to go to Golarion to tangle with either Elvanna or Baba Yaga - depending on which side in the conflict the PCs choose - rather than solely into the depths of the Hut, going through Elvanna's backdoor portal there and into Irrisen proper. This adds a third adventure that needs a location, if Shackled Hut isn't set on Golarion; could bring Eberron into the mix somewhere there, as either that adventure or one of the other two (though probably not the dragon one, given the near-complete absence of dragon interaction with humanoids in Eberron).

... I should probably cross-post this over to the RoW subforum to get feedback there, huh.

Shadow Lodge

Looks like my planned events for tonight are getting postponed. This does free up my evening beyond expectations.

Shadow Lodge

Looking for advice for my STAP game, for a few things going forward. Welcome any responses and suggestions! (Spoilers for Savage Tide, Scint stay out ;P )

Shadow Lodge

Whoops, misread! Edited.

Shadow Lodge

The inn is fairly active at midday, mostly occupied by traders and travelers, adventurer-seekers and would-be heroes not unlike yourselves, and the occasional shepherd or farmer seeking to drink with friends or glean a meal from somewhere other than their own herds or fields. The scent of baking bread, cooking meat, and spilled alcohol fills the room along with the general scents of crowded humanity.

Children scurry about, moving from table to table delivering food and drinks. They are all clearly related to one another and to the large man standing guard at the entrance of the building, a woodcutter's axe leaning against the wall just to his side, and the just-as-large woman filling mugs behind the stacked crates and wooden slats that serves as a bar, when she isn't bustling back into the kitchen beyond.

A few of the travelers look up at the arrival of the newcomers, first the dark-haired young Russian, then the young traveler priest, and lastly the more local Transylvanian with his bow. The man at the door grunts slightly at their presence but does not yet move to intercept nor communicate otherwise, so long as no one draws weapons or calls upon occult powers upon their arrival.

There are no seats at the bar, forcing newcomers to select from the random, mismatched assortment of tables and chairs for a place to rest weary feet. Upon being seated, it's only a matter of moments before the newcomer or three is approached by one of the children, all ranging between ages eight and fifteen, and asked if they wish anything to drink or eat.

Shadow Lodge

And we're live!

Shadow Lodge

In the mountains to the distant east, something stirs. Beyond the bitter cold of the barren lands, something wakes. A gasp, a scream, and an inhuman sound, as whatever slumbered forgotten in solemn Siberia comes forth from its prison once again, leaving the snow and stone red in its wake.

----------

As such things often do, word of the supernatural spreads along an unseen highway below the normal flow of information througout Europe and the lands beyond. Unbeknownst to the masses, secrets of ancient evils - the things barely spoken aloud for fear that even the thought of such could summon their wrath - are passed from hand to hand, mouth to mouth, ear to ear. From the shadows of the darkness beyond the boundaries of this known reality, on the leap day of this fateful year, CastleVania has returned.

As with all its previous resurrections, the Demon Castle's location has shifted once again. Those brave or foolish enough to seek its mysteries find themselves directed to the village of Băile Tușnad, little more than a stop on a well-used trade road passing through central Transylvania that received the occasional passersby but few permanent dwellers... until now. In the wake of CastleVania's appearance the village has become a gateway to the ancient keep and its haunted grounds, one by which nearly all travelers bound for the Palace of the King of Darkness - regardless of their purpose - will pass. The village, once nothing more than the site of a spring where traveling shepherds would pause to water their livestock and bathe, has opened arms to the trade and development, and the welcome growth of trained warriors, mercenaries, and opportunists to protect it against the growing threat of CastleVania's expanding influence.

And expand it has. In the mere three months since its reappearance, night has not been benevolent to the people of Băile Tușnad. The beasts of the wilderness about have become rabid and feral, driven into the city where before they would never venture, destroying life and livestock. The dead have become restless, and wander the lands aimlessly, assaulting any living beings they encounter. And within the past few weeks, nature itself seems to have turned against Băile Tușnad: weather has become erratic, storms and other maladies seemingly conjuring into existence from nowhere, and the coming of spring seems to be delayed by an onset of an extended winter.

As the capstone of this devastating malevolence, within only the past week the moon itself has inexplicably vanished from the sky on what should have been the week of the full. With each passing day the darkness grows, as if the stars themselves are following the moon's example, winking out of existence one by one.

----------

♫♪ Serenade of the Hearth ~ Michiru Yamane (Order of Ecclesia) ♫♪

Date: March 23, 1816 CE
Time: Noon
Place: Village of Băile Tușnad - five kilometers north of CastleVania's gates

By foot, by horse, or by caravan, you have made your way to the village of Băile Tușnad, following whatever contacts or informants have passed on the information of CastleVania's return and the location of its reappearance. Even during the day the blight of its presence is obvious: the air is frigid despite the strained glow of the sun, as if its warmth provides no lasting heat, and what should be fields of green sprinkled intermittently with color from the awakening of spring instead provides shades of brown and red not unlike a fall following a poor harvest. The village consists of no more than fifteen small homes as well as a few buildings that appear to be shops of some sort, a town hall that is easily the biggest building in Băile Tușnad, and an inn that claims second and strongly rivals for first.

The villagers seen on the streets are few, preferring the safety of their homes even during the day, but those you see are pleasant and welcoming despite their timidity. All requests for lodging, food, work, or information are directed to the massive inn at the village's center. Already present are several people who do not look to be natives of Băile Tușnad, and nearly all are in one way or another garbed as adventurers and travelers, not unlike yourselves.

Here, the next chapter begins.....

Shadow Lodge

And last but not least, for Acorn/Attila:

Shardbinder's Seed Shard:
The crystal infusion that gives a Shardbinder their powers serves as a beacon for monstrous souls, allowing the Shardbinder to absorb some of their powers and weild their fiendish weapons himself.

Omen: The initial shape of the implanted shard resembles a budding flower made of stained glass. Each time it absorbs a monstrous soul, it "blooms", adding another petal- or leaf-shaped shard in place of a section of skin.

History: The crystal that makes a Shardbinder who and what they are was implanted in their body by a guild of powerful Alchemists seeking to manipulate fiendish energy in a way that gave them control over its power without the risks of directly summoning such infernal creatures. Unfortunately, a combination of unfortunate events - one guild losing control of their Shardbinders who then went violently rogue, another concocting a mad scheme to sacrifice their Shardbinders in a monstrous ritual to summon a vast horde of fiends, and other equally deranged or unfortunate happenings - resulted in many of the details of the process being lost or hidden away deliberately, reducing the number of potential Shardbinders in the world.

Those who remain are often drawn by a sort of hunger or calling to places of supernatural happenstance or violence, as the crystal that grows in their bodies seeks to gather more shards of fiendish soul energy to itself, to allow the crystal to bloom and grow. Gathering too much, however, without performing proper purification rituals can result in the Shardbinder's body becoming totally crystallized, causing them to either petrify in place as a stained glass statue or to burst in a torrent of fiendish energies that either destroys them or reanimates their crystalline body in some manner of undead or fiendish form.

Starting Statistics: Soul Capture vest or amulet.

Soul Capture: Every time the Shardbinder deals the killing blow or a critical hit to an enemy that can produce soul shards, the GM rolls a percentile die; on a success (a roll of [100-2x{Shardbinder's level + casting modifier}] or higher) or when the GM determines an automatic success, the Shardbinder absorbs a portion of the monster's soul, gaining one of its supernatural or spell-like abilities (GM's choice).

The Shardbinder can use these abilities from a pool of shard points, having 4+(modifier) to start and gaining 2+(modifier) each level. Activating any shard ability costs one point. The caster level for shard abilities is equal to the Shardbinder's total hit die. The DC for spell-like shard abilities is determined normally, using the Shardbinder's casting modifier of choice; the DC for supernatural shard abilities is equal to 10+[half Shardbinder's hit die]+[modifier].

A Shardbinder who absorbs the same soul shard multiple times can choose to improve that shard in one of the following ways:
1. For every shard after the first, the Shardbinder can choose to add 1 round/level to the duration of a shard power that is not instantaneous.
2. For every three shards after the first, the Shardbinder can choose to add 1 to the DC of the effect.
3. For every three shards after the first, the Shardbinder can choose to add an extra die of damage to the effect. This may push the damage dealt by the effect above the spell's normal limit.
Once chosen, the bonus effect cannot be changed for that extra shard; different bonuses can be chosen if that shard is acquired yet again. If the contributing shards are removed, the bonuses are lost.

For every shard the Shardbinder possesses, he gains a Corruption Point. If the Shardbinder gains Corruption Points equal to 3 times his level plus casting modifier, he gains the Evil subtype due to all the fiendish energy suffusing his body (his alignment does not change). So long as he has this subtype as a result of his shards, the Shardbinder takes a -2 penalty to saves against mind-affecting effects, ability and energy drain, and possession effects used against him by fiends.

If he gains 5 times that, his body begins to crystallize, reducing his Dexterity by 4 and movement speed by 10, and increasing the save penalty to -4.

At 10 times that, the corruption overcomes his body and he is considered petrified; he can be returned to flesh form as normal, but only if his Corruption Points are first reduced to below 5 times level plus casting modifier.

Legacy Rituals: None. Unlike a traditional legacy item, the Shardbinder's Seed Shard gains power by absorbing more soul shards, rather than improving with the bearer's level and performing specific rituals. However, the Shardbinder must regularly perform a Cleansing Ritual to remove unnecessary or unwanted shards and to prevent the fiendish energy that suffuses his body from taking over or petrifying him. This ritual destroys the discarded shards and lowers the Shardbinder's Corruption, staving off the ultimate detrimental effects of the Seed Shard.

Shadow Lodge

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For VE/Lucien, we present....

Blessed Helix:
This small pair of silver ribbons is beautiful to behold, twisting about itself on the end of a hanging chain. In the depths of the double spiral, a bearer of divine blesings can see glimpses of cosmic secrets.

Omen: Illegible text is etched along the ribbons that comprise Blessed Helix. When held by a divine caster, these characters rearrange and reshape themselves into a quoted scripture, philosophical saying, or mantra of importance to that caster's faith.

History: It's impossible to say which faith is responsible for the creation of Blessed Helix, as the text that covers its surfaces is the only clue as to its nature and it changes with each new owner to match that person's particular philosophy. What is safe to presume is that the creators came from a society that had problems with the reanimation of undead and the presence of fiendish creatures. Plagued by the constant presence of unclean souls, the peoples of this land found themselves in constant need of aid from those with the capability to battle the unholy creatures, and even more from those with the ability to heal those affected by their corruption.

Seeking a tool that would allow them to complete both these seemingly-impossible tasks, the faith-leaders of this land gathered at a riverside to pray, commune, contemplate, and plan amongst themselves. The river in question was somewhat known to the townsfolk to occasionally wash up small bits of precious metals and the occasional gem, from an as-of-yet undiscovered vein that would much later be unearthed and bring the location some well-earned prosperity, but for the time being it was still a source of minor curiosity for the villagers and little more. Thus it did not at first surprise the gathered people to see the slight glint of silver at the riverside, but when one of the younger of their number decided to claim the shiny stone as a souveneir, they were exceptionally shocked to see it unearthed as a clump of ore almost the size of a grown man's fist. Seeing this as an omen or miracle, the leaders quickly decided to have the ore crafted into a symbol of their faith that would be a rallying talisman and perhaps the very weapon they needed to drive back the undead plague. Thus was Blessed Helix forged.

And blessed it was. With their talisman now in hand, the people of the village gathered allies - warriors, hunters, sailors, anyone capable of fighting - from surrounding regions with the promise of protection from their faith in the form of the holy symbol they now carried. Where they went, the dead fell, the wounded were healed, the sick were cured, the plagued were cleansed, and the unholy were struck down and driven away. Seeing this sudden uprising of the oppressed peoples, the fiendish leaders of the undead horde sent their champion, a mighty demon of battle, to face off against the upstart mortals that dared to stand against them. But instead of finding a holy knight or swarthy rebel awaiting them, the fiend found only a gathering of villagers led by an elder holding a bit of silver on a chain. Unimpressed, the fiend moved to strike the old healer down, but as its blade neared Blessed Helix the symbol glowed with a bright silvery light; when it cleared, the fiend was no more, either banished or destroyed by the holy symbol's power. Their greatest champion vanquished, the demons fled back to the pit from whence they came, and the plague of undeath eventually came to an end. Blessed Helix has passed from person to person, faith to faith over the intervening years, always seeming ot vanish when its task is done and reappear somewhere it is most needed.

Starting Statistics: Silver holy symbol. The wearer gains the feat Touch of Healing for free while it is worn.

Legacy Rituals:

They Shall Be Healed: Using spells, feats, class abilities, and/or magic items, you must heal a total of over 100 hit points to beings other than yourself.

From Water Comes Life: You must descend into a river, lake, stream, or other source of water and remain submerged with Blessed Helix in hand for one minute (ten rounds) in prayer.

The Wicked Cannot Stand: You must strike the killing blow against a fiendish or undead creature of your CR or higher with a spell you have cast or a weapon you have conjured or enhanced with divine magic. A spell that removes such a creature from your vicinity without necessarily killing them, such as banishment, is considered the "killing blow" for the purpose of this trial.

Shadow Lodge

Alright, apologies once again for the long wait! Here are the starting legacy items for the rest of the group.

For CH/Alexei, we have...

Iron Wish-Ring of Jedza:
This small talisman in the shape of a featureless loop of cold iron can be worn either as a ring or on a chain as a necklace. Its plain appearance belies hidden arcane secrets.

Omen: Though the ring seems featureless and feels smooth to the touch, whenever an arcane spell is cast within fifteen feet of it the ring glows with a pale blue-green light and makes a soft, almost inaudible chime.

History: Cold iron is known across the earth by almost any society that has dealings with the magical to be a bane and preventative of arcane mischief. Used in wardings, protective talismans, and in weapons against the likes of fiend, fey, and folklore, it's only natural that such a regularly-used material would begin to develop unusual traits of its own as a result of so much exposure to and absorbtion of magical energy. Thus is where the story of the Iron Wish-Ring of Jedza begins - as a simple ingot of cold iron used by simple village folk as a defensive measure against trickster faeries and troublesome demons. Hammered out by a local smith and passed from family member to family member over the years, the names of all forgotten in time, the simple lump of metal served its purpose well - placed on windowsills and mantlepieces to keep out the unwanted magical creatures, cast at the feet of strangers or in the faces of skulking shadows, placed for safety under the pillows of newlyweds, newborns, and deathbeds alike.

Though the original maker of the iron ingot and the names of all its owners over the ages are long forgotten, the legacy of its final owner lives on in its common name. Jedza was a young woman set to be betrothed, and her parents - worried that a trickster creature of some sort might try to steal her away by some interruption of the ceremony - had the ingot forged into the form of a ring, then instructed their daughter to wear it around her neck or on her finger at all times until her wedding night was complete. Unbeknownst to them, it was no trickery that would risk to steal Jedza from her betrothal - she had no love for the man her parents had arranged for her to marry, and instead wished to seek adventure and mystery in the surrounding lands, not to be kept at home with a husband and children to manage for the rest of her life. With the last gift of the ring to assure she would be able to keep herself safe from the mysterious powers of the wilds, Jedza packed her few precious possessions and disappeared one day while she was supposed to be working the fields, never to be seen by her family or her betrothed again.

It wasn't long, all things considered, before the young wanderer found herself entranced by the secrets of the wilds and sought to learn their ways and their magicks for herself, and thus her search for a teacher began; depending on where the story is told, her teacher is said to be any of all manner of powerful women of magic from folklore - in the Celtic lands she is said to have been taught the ways of witchcraft from Queen Brigid or The Morrigan; to the Britons she was the pupil of Morgan le Fay; in the Norselands she was considered the student of the Vanir, particularly Freya; in Greece and Italy her legend is tied to the goddess Hecate; and in Russia and the Slavic countries she is said to have studied at the feet of the infamous Baba Yaga. Whatever their source, the mystical mentor asks as payment for her teachings the gift of the ring in return, and often admonishes Jedza that the iron she wears prohibits her from fully realizing her magical talents as she's being taught, but the girl, wise beyond her years, refuses to surrender her payment until the teaching is complete. When finally the time comes to pass that her mentor declares she has nothing further to learn, Jedza at last agrees to surrender the ring as payment; in some versions of the story she is allowed to go in peace, but in most the mentor immediately turns on her, their prize now finally in hand they wish to turn their frustrations for years of delay against the girl, but Jedza - no longer burdened by the presence of cold iron - swiftly defeats her teacher, proving indeed she had nothing further to learn. What became of her after is a mystery, but the ring has been passed through the generations until arriving here.

Starting Statistics: Cold Iron ring or amulet. The wearer possesses Spell Resistance 5 plus their caster level.

Legacy Rituals:

Talisman Against the Intruder: The spell resistance granted by the ring must nullify a spell cast on its target unknowingly, from stealth or surprise, protecting its wearer from an unseen attack or harm.

Gift to the Departer: The ring must be melted down then reforged, granting it a "new" shape (it does not actually have to be a different shape, should the owner desire). It maintains its properties through this process.

Mastery Over the Mentor: You must prevail over a spellcaster of higher caster level than yourself in combat or a challenge of arcane skill, with either the ring removed from your person or its Spell Resistance willingly suppressed.

Shadow Lodge

And here is....

Netherstrand:
A gloomy, macabre weapon, Netherstrand is made of the weathered, greyed wood of a gallows and strung with a string woven from human hair and threads from a noose rope.

Omen: The bow grows warm and emits small plumes of smoke when within 60 feet of an arcane spellcaster or alchemist with whom the wielder is not allied, and the drawstring becomes covered in frost when within 60 feet of an incorporeal creature. These effects can happen simultaneously.

History: An inquisitor by the name of Thibodeaux is responsible for the creation of this gruesome weapon; a witch hunter and mage breaker by trade, he collected a trophy of a single hair from every witch he executed and a thread from every noose he employed once its victim had died. He wove these one by one into a single strand, which he wore around his neck like a talisman as he went about his missions.

Most of the people tortured and murdered by Thibodeaux and his inquisitors were, of course, innocent of any wrongdoing and not truly possessed of any supernatural powers; however, he did manage to successfully capture some in his long career. One of these witches happened to be the younger sibling of a more powerful sorcerer, who swore vengeance against the cruel cleric. Calling upon the power of her enemy's many victims, the witch summoned forth their angry spirits and - using the thread of hair as a beacon - directed them toward the sleeping Thibodeaux, and locked him in a torturous nightmare coma for years.

In his slumber, he was eventually approached by a sinister dream demon (posing, of course, as a celestial envoy) who made a deal with the inquisitor - if he would give his body and soul to its god, surrendering his life, he would be freed from his entrapment within the witch's dreamscape. Thibodeaux accepted the deal, only to find his soul caught within the demon's clutches - perhaps, where it had always been bound - and his body under its control. It would be several more years before the possession and deception would be discovered and Thibodeaux's body eventually slain, banishing the fiend back to the pits from whence it came, but in that time it would craft Netherstrand from the thread of hair and rope the inquisitor had begun creating.

Starting Statistics: adaptive wyroot longbow

Legacy Rituals:

The Bloody Braid: You must participate in the death of a spell-casting enemy of your CR or higher and collect a trophy stained with its blood or made from its flesh, hair, scales, or other body materials.

The Witch's Wrath: Using whatever tools, allies, and skills you have at your disposal, you must sate the desire for vengeance, retribution, or punishment for a deceased or undead being or a living entity working on their behalf.

The Demon's Deal: You must engage in single, lone interaction with a fiend of CR equal or greater than yourself and emerge alive and victorious, either by negotiating a deal or agremeent with it or destroying it in combat. Fleeing does not count as completing this trial.

Shadow Lodge

Character Creation

Character Names and Relations
Characters may be connected to canon families and histories from the CastleVania universe, such as the Belmonts, Belnades, Graves, Lecardes, etc. However, I ask there only be one such character from each; I'm willing to make a single exception for a pair of siblings, parent/child or spousal pair, or etc. from one family but would rather not have multiple pairs of such filling up the party.

No, you can't play Alucard, even if you want to be a Dhampir. He's an NPC and I haven't decided whether or not he'll even be present. ;)

Race
Characters in this game are limited to the following options, to fit in with the theme of the game world and setting:
Human
Dhampir
Skinwalker
Changeling
Samsaran
Aasimar
Tiefling
Ganzi
Fetchling
Ifrit
Oread
Sylph
Undine
Suli
Vishkanya
Shardbinder (represented by the Maenad)

Characters are free to take any of the racial alternative options available from official Paizo printings or from d20PFSRD.com.

Class
I'm pretty much open to anything from Pathfinder, first or third party, and will allow most official 3.5 WOTC material if someone wants to dip back into something from there that didn't make the jump to PF for one reason or another. If there's an issue with a class choice, I'll let you know.

Characters begin at Level 2. I'm not going to be so mean as to throw you into the meat grinder at level 1 fragility. =)

Characters may pick any of the available Favored Class bonuses they wish, regardless of race. If playing a 3.5 class and you want an option other than +1 HP or +1 Skill Point as your Favored Class option, I'll consider cooking something up.

Alignment
I would prefer that all the PCs involved are Good or Neutral, but I'm not going to immediately prohibit evil alignments - I trust all the people who'll be in this game and I'm confident that if your concept is evil it will be a kind that is of temperament to work with the party rather than against.

As long as you have the shared understanding that the goal is to defeat Dracula and banish CastleVania back from whence it came, the rest is fair game.

Stats
Characters will be built using a pre-set array: 16 14 14 12 10 8.

Other Character Creation Options
As usual, start with two Traits, usual rules apply. If the Trait isn't on PFSRD I may ask you to print the full text for me.

Most anything on PFSRD as far as feats, spells, items, etc. is fair game. 3.5 material is slightly more limited - the following books are open for pre-approved use:
Magic Item Compendium
Spell Compendium
Tome of Magic
Book of Nine Swords
Anything else I ask you request first and I'll likely approve but I do want to look it over first.

Leadership will not be allowed so I recommend not building your character with it in mind. Likewise I advise only one person in the party have a combat-inclined companion - be it animal companion, eidolon, combat familiar, or so forth. I don't want to completely rule out druids, summoners, etc. but I want to keep the number of pets to a minimum. Regular non-combatant familiars are fine.

Remember that you'll be spending most of the campaign inside the extent of the castle, so spells and abilities focused on working in natural areas will probably not function during the majority of the story.

Enemies will be the standard CastleVania fare - you'll see a lot of undead, a fair number of aberrations, outsiders, magical beasts, and oozes, and the occasional plant, fey, animal or vermin, monstrous humanoid, and construct. Dragons are a possibility but likely rare. Humanoids will be nearly nonexistent outside PCs. Keep this in mind when considering character options.

Exploration will be a primary theme of the game, so characters are encouraged to have investment in skills and abilities that assist with this. Knowledge skills will be useful as always. Craft, Profession, and similar skills will likely be less useful given you will be spending almost all of the storyline inside the castle and thus have little to no interaction with civilized areas.

Other Rules
We will be using the Automatic Bonus Progression rules from Pathfinder Unchained.

In addition, a character may start with a single magic item if they wish and it is suitable to their concept - for example, a Belmont beginning the game with the Vampire Killer whip. These items will use rules similar to those from Weapons of Legacy from 3.5, but I will need to come up with specific progressions for each.

For obvious reasons whips will be improved in this game: they'll be using the stats of a barbed scourge - 1d6 lethal Slashing damage, one handed, x3 critical on 20. In addition, they'll be treated as Martial weapons, not Exotic. They can still be used with Weapon Finesse if one desires.

If you have any other questions or feel I've left something out, let me know! I'll be happy to answer ASAP =)

Shadow Lodge

DungeonmasterCal wrote:
I keep coming back to something about fey, trying to link it to the full moon or at least to Autumn, but I can't seem to get anything solid to appear.

Wild Hunt Hound (Fey, CR 10)

Devil Dog (Magical Beast, CR 5)
Foo Dog (Magical Beast/Outsider, CR 5)
Moon Dog (Outsider, CR 9) (Has good subtype; may need to slap the Broken Soul or similar template to it)
3pp version of Moon Dog (still Good)
Wolf-Spider (Magical Beast, CR 4)
Bad Wolf (Mythic Magical Beast, CR 6/MR 2)
Abyssal Wolf (Magical Beast, CR 7)
Fey Animal Template (+1 CR) - Slap this onto any animal or magical beast of your choice to make it more fey-ish.
Greater Barghest (Outsider, CR 7)
Cayhound (Outsider, CR 5) (Also Good)
Cerberi (Outsider, CR 6)
Dahzagan (Outsider, CR 6) (Wolf-taur demon!)
Nerizo/Hound Demon (Outsider, CR 9)
Nessian Warhound (Outsider, CR 9)
Hound of Tindalos (Outsider, CR 7)
Shadow Mastiff (Outsider, CR 5) (Also includes two CR 6 variants)
Sceazir (Outsider, CR 9)
Shadow Animal Template (CR varies) - More template fun!
Yeth Hound (Outsider, CR 3) - low CR means more room for templates!
Zentragt (Outsider, CR 4)

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Drejk wrote:

Fantasy Monster: Miscriber Gremlin.

Completely unrelated to recent events and complaints.

<adds YET ANOTHER Drejk monster to the must-use pile>

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I have come up with a plan for my Savage Tide campaign! Sort of, feedback welcome:

My players stay out:
In addition to the stuff that's normally going on, the party will have another ally - a qlippoth/obyrith of some sort, who sees backing the party and helping take out Demogorgon as a way to improve the state of the primordial fiends at the expense of the current demonic hierarchy. Or, alternatively, the newly-forming Loumara caste, doubly so since no demon lords thus far arisen are of Loumara stock save one who has already been suborned by a demon and is of only minor power. Or perhaps am alliance of both.

Heck, it might just be Dagon himself.

The party includes a star-pact Warlock/Dark Tapestry Oracle, so there's definitely some kinship to be had with tentacly primeval fiends.

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Why is everything Drejk makes something I want to use in my next campaign?

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Dr. Ms. Frankenslaad wrote:
{scribbles down notes about "haunt/undead marine life frozen in iceberg/glacier warbling on in oracular stanzas/beat poetry/Dad jokes"}

Please ma'am, may I have some more?

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1d4 Ice Weasels wrote:
lisamarlene wrote:
Seriously. No cats. All they do is make me miserable, and if I get bitten, the hallucinations are *horrible*. I don't need that right now. Not this year.
1d4 of us are pretty sure that just gave Drejk a feline critter idea.

<waits excitedly>

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GM Umbral Ultimatum wrote:
** spoiler omitted **

Answered my own question:
Ended up going with the Vexing Daredevil. Going to have fun feinting the Swashbuckler into flatfootedness.
Shadow Lodge

Savage Tide Question, My Players No Peeking!:
What's a good Mesmerist archetype to gestalt onto a Death Knight Fighter? Level 16. He's got the Charisma to pull it off, and Mesmerist seems like a solid second class. Just trying to decide if he should go purist or grab an archetype or two.

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NobodysHome wrote:

- It's really distressing to see just how much my departure from Paizo APs was justified. The family's loving the "random encounter homebrew" I'm running because the monsters follow the same rules as the PCs. There's no, "These guys pop out of the wall without you having any possible way of detecting them." (Multiple occurrences in Books 2 and 3 of Shattered Star). There's no, "These guys put up a horizontal Wall of Force between you and them so they can use their abilities against you and you can't touch them." (Mummy's Mask). There's no, "Here's half a dozen creatures, all of whom spam a special ability that completely disables your character, and you have to make a new save every round, because being taken out of a combat is so fun." (Once again, Shattered Star throughout Books 2 and 3.)

Yes, I have to make the encounters CR+2 or CR+3 to make them challenging. But gee... the players having to use tactics within the scope of the standard rule set is making them really happy, because they can actually figure out how to fight the creatures, instead of a constant, "Oh, no. That creature ignores that rule," that's so common in the APs.

<continues to take notes>

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Our online-game server's host is going to be out of town this weekend - her husband is having surgery and they're both going thru COVID testing - so no Savage Tide this week.

Also no more Tuesday 5e game, my group went back to in-person games which means no more for me as I'm four states away now.

Have a NWN quest tonight, though. More Dwarfquest!

Shadow Lodge

So I'm trying to build this Oracle and have two feats to burn. I figured lacking better options - she has all the Revelations I want out of the Winter oracle list, so that option is used up - to just grab a couple of Spell Foci and call it done. The trick is which two to take.

Here's her current spell list and list of feats. (Mystery spells marked with *, and obviously the Cures are free.) Not all the spells are Paizo, some are 3pp, but you can find them all on d20PFSRD. Advice appreciated!

Spoiler:
9th (6+?/day)--greater false resurrection, mass icy prison*, miracle, polar midnight
8th (6+?/day)--curse of night, doombringer’s wrath, edict, greater spellcrash, mass cure critical wounds, nine lives, polar ray*, sacramental seal
7th (6+1+?/day)--blasphemy, dictum, greater sensory deprivation, ice body*, mass cure serious wounds, portal, resurrection
6th (6+1+?/day)--cone of cold*, dimensional blade, elemental assessor, greater dispel magic, hellfire ray, heal, mass cure moderate wounds
5th (6+1+?/day)--boneshatter, demon flesh, fickle winds, greater forbid action, icy prison*, mass cure light wounds, opportunity, wall of stone
4th (6+1+?/day)--crusader’s blessing, cure critical wounds, death ward, divine power, greater magic weapon, ice storm*, red rain, saving grace
3rd (6+2+?/day)--armor of light, cure serious wounds, disarming storm, magic vestment, prayer, protection from energy, sleet storm*, weapons storm
2nd (6+2+?/day)--admonishing ray, apocalypse, arrow of law, cure moderate wounds, dread bolt, frost fall*, khazri, frigid slowness, retribution
1st (6+2+?/day)--astute fighting, barbed chains, cure light wounds, embrace destiny, endure elements*, hex of the bull’s eye, sacred watch, scourge, stone shield
Orisons--animate tools, ceremonial servant, create ice, create water, crystal symbol, detect magic, divine mark, enhanced diplomacy, read magic, shelve, sign of discovery, touch of torment

Feats Cold Celerity, Disruptive Spell-Like Ability (unholy blight), Divine Interference, Endurance, Extra Revelation (Blizzard, Snow Sight), Greater Spell Penetration, Practiced Ritualist, Spell Penetration (and two more)

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I think I've spent a grand total of almost eight hours working on this level-20 Oracle's spell list and (to a far lesser extent) revelation choices.

And the rest of the character - feats, skills, gear - is far from done.

And I still have a 20 Sorc and a 20 Path of War maneuver user to make. o.o

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Scintillae wrote:
Pillbug Toenibbler wrote:
Sharoth wrote:
At least it is not UNDEAD bikini gremlins.
STOP GIVING DREJK MORE HORRIFYING IDEAS FOR MAKING MORE HORRIFYING CRITTERS!!!
The funny thing is is that Orthos' exact response to the hobkins comment I made earlier was "I hate that I want to stat this."

The Irradiated template exists and we do have plans for a plot later that takes place in the ground zero of where some archmages magic-nuked a dragon.

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Got 7 pages - about 4350 words - written over the course of today, most of it in a four-hour block this afternoon with some editing and tweaking over the rest of the day.

Same time tomorrow, back at it is the plan.

Shadow Lodge

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Tomorrow:

DWARVES! (and gnome!)

VERSUS!

DROW!

TWO TEAMS ENTER - ONE TEAM LEAVES!

WELCOME TO THUNDERHOLME!!

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Frankly I just appreciate NH's constant rants about GMing/APs being written in certain ways because they help me build a Big Book of What Not To Do.

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I forgot how fun making weird cobbled-together monsters is.

MOAR TEMPLATES. MOAR.

Shadow Lodge

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I'm still looking for images of strange and bizarre alien/mutant megafauna, dinosaurs, etc. if anyone has any more lying around. =) Every little bit helps!

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Nylarthotep wrote:
Thoughts on roll20 versus fantasy grounds?

Never used FG.

Roll20 has been a pain to try and use so I've mostly abandoned it.

My group uses MapTool for gaming, with voice over Discord. My ease with it may just be due to years of use, but it's always seemed far more intuitive to me to use than Roll20.

Shadow Lodge

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Ragadolf wrote:
Orthos wrote:
I do find overly realistic depictions of Pokemon and even better Pokemon fusions might also do the trick.

Okaaaay,...

Some of those are really cool.

the rest are just plain creepy. O_o

That's precisely the effect I'm going for.

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I need pictures of Spider-Man alien-looking or otherwise wrong and/or malformed dinosaurs and other prehistoric megafauna. Anyone have any lying about? >:]

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So, I had a weird dream. Apparently I was asking people on my nwn server what to do next after finishing my current storylines and the consensus was to run a plotline called Stone Cold Throne. Which admittedly is a pretty boss storyline name.

Unfortunately I have no idea what it is yet. But it's now in my head.

Shadow Lodge

Dwarfquest events have been posted for my NWN server, scheduled for mid-March. (Feb got filled up suuuuuuper fast with events.)

Shadow Lodge

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In NWN news, ran an event for a group of evil and evil-leaning PCs. They called up a Pit Fiend from the group's Red Wizard's backstory to get info on the party tiefling's succubus ancestor.

Unfortunately they did this outside in the rain. So the binding circle got washed away and the fiend waited to reveal this until the end of the conversation. The group had tried to bribe him with a dominated drow they'd captured, but as you all know devils can't accept a soul unless it's freely given.

So he just reached out of the circle - freaking out the party severely in the process - and grabbed the drow, said he'd "convince" him to give up his soul freely in Baator, and offered a bit of "friendly advice" to the Red Wizard ("Don't draw your binding circles in the rain") before vanishing in smoke and flame.

He'll be back next time with their info and an appropriate contract.

Shadow Lodge

This seems appropriate.

Shadow Lodge

I concur. I absolutely love the flavor text.

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Here is the contract in question, for funsies. It's edited from a contract written by a different DM and posted on Reddit, so I can't take credit for all the work, but my revisions took 3 to 4 hours last night in preparation for today's session, so I'm pretty proud of it.

Spoiler:
-- ARTICLE I. Preamble

Said contract, hereafter referred to as "the Agreement", is an instrument whose purpose is the exchange of goods, advantages, power or boon between two parties.

The present Agreement is written, interpreted, applied and concluded under the currently applicable infernal law and the intent of the parties, under the authority of the Nine Lords of Baator, by the eternal decree of the Celestial Hebdomad, through the powers invested in the persons of infernal ordinance, and within the stipulations and allowances as detailed within the officiaries of infernal law and the Pact Primeval.

BETWEEN

SOPHIA ANUHMIELLE BENES LEONSBANE, mortal of the material plane realm of Toril, Hereafter referred to as "the First contractor";

AND

LEMUELAMSTOZIAS, TRACTSCRIBE, headquartered at GOD STREET, THE IRON CITY OF DIS, Registered as PHISTOPHILUS EV63 9975 C7268 8273YP
Represented by MEMMNETH, PURVEYOR, in its capacity as a Contract Devil, headquartered at THE WITCHMARKET OF ZEVENESTRES, Registered as CONSULAON XH52 7581 E5568 9558SH
Hereafter jointly referred to as "the Second contractor";

-- Article II. Terms of Contract

The present Agreement WITNESSETH:

1/ WHEREAS, the First contractor is a mortal born naturally. Considering in his/her possession a soul unburdened by lien, claim, judgment, prior diabolic transaction or other encumbrance, or the soul(s) unburdened by lien, claim, judgment, prior diabolic transaction or other encumbrance of other mortals in exchange for the one in his/her possession, and is acting of and within their own active Free Will to provide the agreed-upon boons, rewards, exchanges, or payments, Hereafter referred to as "the Prize";

2/ WHEREAS, the Second contractor possesses the ability to grant whatsoever benefit, power or boon that may be desired, that does not come into conflict with the currently applicable infernal rules at the date of signature of this contract, Hereafter referred to as "the Advantage";

3/ WHEREAS, the First contractor wishes to sell and the Second contractor wishes to buy the Prize;

4/ NOW THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual covenants herein contained, and other good and valuable consideration, the parties hereto mutually agree as follows:

(a) This Agreement is entered into freely and under no coercion, force, duress, supernatural influence, extortion nor other threat to life, limb or property, be it mundane or magical.

(b) Any other source of coercion, force, duress, supernatural influence, extortion or threat to life, limb or property of the First contractor, unrelated to the Second contractor, the represented entity, his/her other representatives or employees, is not taken into account and does not fall under the Second contractor’s responsibility.

(c) The Second contractor, the represented entity or his other representatives or employees, undertake to not threaten or harm life, limb or property of the First contractor in the duration of the contract, nor to enact Death by any other deliberate, intentional, or forethought means. Conversely, the First contractor also undertakes this. Any infringement of this stipulation is a breach of contract and a default.

5/ In exchange for eternal and unconditional ownership of the Prize, the Second contractor shall deliver to the First contractor the following mutually agreed Advantage:

(a) The First contractor is to be provided with extensive, thorough, and accurate information on the nature of unique, prominent, and/or pertinent information contained within the First contractor's mortal ancestry; hereafter referred to as "the Data".

(b) The Second contractor is obligated and hereunto bound to ensure the Data to be truthful, accurate, and complete to the best of its ability(/ies).

(c) The First contractor is to be provided with the Data as it is made available and as payment has been exchanged, in part or in whole as is necessary and proper at the time of the exchange.

6/ In exchange for the conferred Advantage, the First contractor shall deliver to the Second contractor the Prize detailed below, becoming his eternal property and irrevocable except by infernal law :

(a) The First contractor undertakes to fulfill his obligations. The First contractor undertakes to perform a sacrifice of physical capacity, Hereafter referred to as "Strength", in equilibrium to the gained knowledge within the to-be-exchanged fragment of the Data, as defined in Article II.5(a), to the Second contractor, by an adequate method and in an adequate receptacle.

{a.1} As an alternative to the above, the First contractor has been allowed the option to exchange one such offering of Strength by instead performing a singular task on behalf of the Second contractor, to be determined and defined at the time of the exchange, as meets the agreement of both parties, and to provide suitable alteration to this document to record such agreements at such time. This clause specifically denotes such arrangements as an acceptable and allowed-for variable within the agreement of the contractors, and as a singular, specific defined factor herein which by such agreement the contract may be modified post-hoc.

(b) The Second contractor gains the right to take possession of the Prize and/or other possessions physically linked to the charnel envelope of the Prize, based on the obligations detailed in this Agreement, in the form of a unique payment as defined in Article III.4(a), non-negotiable after the signature.

{b.1} The Second contractor also reserves the right to distribute the Prize, in part or in whole, to person(s) of its own choosing, for durations of its own choosing; to destroy, modify, or rescind the Prize; and to otherwise handle the Prize, its whereabouts, its properties, and its status in a manner of its own choosing, without the consent, notification, or approval of the First contractor.

(c) Under all conditions, the responsibility of the delivery of the Prize is to the First contractor, guaranteeing the terms of this Agreement with his/her own unburdened soul, regardless of the nature of negotiated Prize.

-- ARTICLE III. Assurances

1/ (a) Any separation of the soul to its original charnel envelope or spiritual separation of a duration above five (5) minutes (by Toril standard natural temporal reckoning), natural end of life, any deadly magic, wounds or effect, passage of the soul without a physical body or envelope to the astral plane or the outer sphere, any state allowing the use of a spell of effect of resurrection upon the physical body or the soul of the First contractor, constitutes the "Death" of the First contractor.

(b) The First contractor shall have no claim on the Second contractor’s choice of method(s) for retaining and protecting the Prize, including but not limited to bodily containment, magical siphon, venom, disease, soul fragmentation, or other methods of physical extraction.

2/ The terms of this Agreement will apply for the duration agreed in the terms of this contract, the duration of the Prize’s coherent existence, or until time and/or the universe itself dies, whichever shall occur first.

3/ The First contractor hereby warrants and testifies that he/she has not sold, exchanged, promised, bargained, pledged or dedicated the Prize prior to this Agreement, and will not do so for the duration of the contract, to any entity other than the Second contractor or its representatives or superiors, and that there exists no lien, claim, judgment, debt, "unfinished business" or prior transaction, diabolic or not, that would prevent or interfere in the passage of the Prize, or cause the Prize or part of the Prize to be recovered, reclaimed, recreated, rejuvenated, or repaired without the express written, telepathic, or verbal consent of the Second contractor, its representatives, or its superiors.

4/ (a) The delivery of the Prize, as detailed in Article II.1 and Article II.5(a), is to be done in the form of one payment per exchanged fragment of the Advantage/the Data, or as one whole sum when the contract is at its end (under default or for any other reason). The First contractor undertakes to be available so as to be contacted by the Second contractor, and undertakes to be able to deliver the mutually agreed Prize to the Second contractor. The payment shall be done in without delay, credit, promise of payment or partial payment, except as noted above. The payment and its nature are non-negotiable and cannot be a subject of dispute. Any infringement of these conditions constitutes a default of obligations and a breach of contract.

(b) Concerning the mutually agreed Prize, as defined in Article II.1 and detailed in Article II.6(a), under the conditions described in Article III.3, a soul must be of adequate quality. Adequate meaning in this instance, at least, belonging to a mortal being or creature of a sentient and civilized humanoid race, including but not limited to: humans, elves, gnomes, halflings, orcs, dwarves. The alignment of the soul does not constitute a quality criterion.

-- ARTICLE IV. Default

1/ (a) In the event of any default or breach of a term of this Agreement by the First contractor, the Second contractor gains the right to immediate collection and appropriation of the pledge given in Article II.6(c), notwithstanding any other magic, pledge, or debt to any other entity.

(b) In the event the Second contractor may reasonably infer in the breach of obligations, in accordance with this Agreement, of the First contractor, upon demand all obligations of the First contractor shall become immediately due, and the Second contractor may take any and all steps necessary to secure its interests therein.

(c) The Second contractor reserves the right to do as it pleases concerning the Prize once obtained, including but not limited to possession, re-appropriation, reuse, torture, slavery, destruction or disintegration.

2/ (a) In the event of any default or breach of a term of this Agreement by the Second contractor, the very nature and being of the Second contractor is in violation, and it accepts and warrants with its signature its immediate punishment.

(b) The First contractor shall be invited to participate to the proceedings and deliberations of infernal justice, as defined in the Dis Amendment on the Soul Trade N°458-B, as well as to the eventual punishment, including but not limited to reuse, torture, dissolution, disintegration or complete inexistence.

(c) The First contractor shall receive, in compensation, an advantage from the Second contractor or his replacement, to be determined by the infernal justice, based on the promised Advantage herein. The obligations of the First contractor in this Agreement shall be immediately cancelled, save in exceptional circumstances, as defined by the Dis Amendment on Contract Interpretation N°32-B.

3/ In the event of a dispute between the two parties on the terms, conditions or obligations of this Agreement, the parties accept and warrant with their signature an immediate and mandatory summoning, to appear before infernal justice, as defined in the Dis Amendment on Judiciary Disputes N°72-C, for Arbitration as detailed in Article VI.

4/ The terms of this Agreement shall be interpreted under the applicable infernal law of Dis, the Second circle of Hell, at the time of signature of this contract (Dis Amendment on the Soul Trade N°458, Dis Amendment on Contract Interpretation N°32, Dis Amendment on Judiciary Disputes N°72).

-- ARTICLE V. Merger

1/ This Agreement, along with any exhibits, appendices, addenda, schedules, and amendments hereto, encompasses the entire agreement of the contractors, and supersedes all previous understandings and agreements between the contractors, whether oral, written, or otherwise, unless specifically designated otherwise within this Agreement.

2/ The contractors hereby acknowledge and represent, by affixing their names and seals hereto, that said contractors have not relied on any representation, assertion, guarantee, warranty, collateral contract or other assurance, except those set out in this Agreement, made by or on behalf of any other party or any other person or entity whatsoever, prior to the execution of this Agreement.

3/ The contractors hereby waive all rights and remedies, at law or in equity, arising or which may arise as the result of a contractor’s reliance on such representation, assertion, guarantee, warranty, collateral contract or other assurance, provided that nothing herein contained shall be construed as a restriction or limitation of said contractor’s right to remedies associated with the gross negligence, willful misconduct or fraud of any person or party taking place prior to, or contemporaneously with, the execution of this Agreement.

-- ARTICLE VI. Arbitration

1/ Any dispute, controversy or claim arising out of or relating in any way to the agreement including without limitation any dispute concerning the construction, validity, interpretation, enforceability or breach of the agreement, shall be exclusively resolved by binding arbitration upon a contractor’s submission of the dispute to arbitration. The demand for arbitration shall be made within a reasonable time after the claim, dispute or other matter in question has arisen, and in no event shall it be made after one (1) year (by Toril standard natural temporal reckoning) from when the aggrieved party knew or should have known of the controversy, claim, dispute or breach.

2/ This agreement to arbitrate shall be specifically enforceable. A contractor may apply to any court with jurisdiction for interim or conservatory relief, including without limitation a proceeding to compel arbitration.

3/ The arbitration shall be conducted by one (1) arbitrator. If the contractors are not able to agree upon the selection of an arbitrator, within twenty (20) days (by Toril standard natural temporal reckoning) of commencement of an arbitration proceeding by service of a demand for arbitration, the arbitrator shall be selected by Kolyarut directive Judicator C79V286%82@20CCCT (or subsequent as dictated by standard Mechanus operative methodology) in accordance with the terms of this agreement.

4/ The arbitration shall be conducted in Diabolical Courts, City of Abriymoch, Phlegethos, Baator.

5/ The cost of the arbitration proceeding and any proceeding in court to confirm or to vacate any arbitration award, as applicable (including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs), shall be borne by the unsuccessful contractor, as determined by the arbitrator, and shall be awarded as part of the arbitrator’s award. It is specifically understood and agreed that any party may enforce any award rendered pursuant to the arbitration provisions of this Section by bringing suit in any court of competent jurisdiction.

6/ The parties agree that the arbitrator shall have authority to grant injunctive or other forms of equitable relief to any party. This Section shall survive the termination or cancellation of this Agreement.

-- THEREFORE, under the currently applicable laws and penalties and under penalty of "Eternal Pain and Torment and/or Fundamental Dissolution" (defined in the Nessian Penal Code), in witness thereof in this Agreement, the parties intending to be legally and eternally bound, have executed and warrant their obligations in this Agreement from the date of the last signature below.

(Signature to be preceded by the handwritten words "Read and approved")

I, the undersigned SOPHIA ANUHMIELLE BENES LEONSBANE, First contractor, certify and warrants with my signature the entirety of this contract and of its terms, conditions and obligations. At THE WITCHMARKET the ELIENT 25 1379.

I, the undersigned MEMMNETH, Second contractor, certify and warrants with my signature the entirety of this contract and of its terms, conditions and obligations. At THE WITCHMARKET the ELIENT 25 1379 in two (2) original copies, one of which given to the First contractor upon direct request.

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I am playing a Contract Devil and it is waaaaaaaaay too fun.

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Gary Teter wrote:
What are you doing on October 9?

The final session of my NWN run of Race for the Runecarved Key.

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Second-to-last NWN session of Race for the Runecarved Key tonight. The Harpers are infiltrating the wererats' lair.

Savage Tide tomorrow, continuing into the second half of the Fogmire temple.

Next part of In Wrath's Shadow in NWN on Sunday. Specifically, running King of the Storval Stairs. Giants for everyone!

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Finally got to play Savage Tide again! For a bit at least!

Spoiler:
We just reached the temple in Fogmire in Here There Be Monsters last time we were able to play, so today was the entrance area and first and second major traps, the deadfall at the left entrance and the bizarre teleporter one with the weird candles-bloody thrones-haunted mirrors setup.

The invoker|oracle went left when the rest of the party went right and tripped the deadfall trap, which resulted in the rest of the group having to dig her and her will-o-wisp (courtesy Leadership) out of the rubble. (And funny on that - the halfling magus|swashbuckler and the oracle|harbinger together could move exactly the same amount of stone per round as the lone fourth character, the slayer|investigator.)

Then they got to the mirror room and, after fiddling and getting blown up and making a huge mess figuring out how the trap worked, the invoker ended up getting herself dominated and the party went all Yakkety Sax for a round until the magus could dispel her.

We left it off just as they jumped through the portal, and the three bar-lgura mates are waiting for them just on the other side, alerted by the massive amount of noise the deadfall trap made.

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Drejk wrote:
Freehold DM wrote:
Scintillae wrote:
Limeylongears wrote:
Yesterday, I learned that Furbies are absolutely, positively, 100% NOT kosher, which I think is very useful to know.
Ambrosia Slaad wrote:
I stumbled across a recipe talking about and it sounded good. I've never had it.
The timing of these two posts made for an amazing adventure into toy-based culinary horrors.

you're only giving Drejk ideas.

Potentially delicious ones.

I would have to google Furby first. Too hot for googling...

They're the talking owl-like things that were popular a decade or so back. The ones I based a gremlin on that I posted a few months back (statblock in profile).

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