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All of those things are good. Missing crafting or knowledge won't get the party killed for the most part. They do have a distinct lack of arcane casting outside the helpful witch. The other party is solid on most roles and I am just trying to get an additional body.
Never mind. Will go with ole reliable.
"Oh Mama Kurg isn't dangerous..." the gem brightly spoke as they took her from the goblins lap and simply stepped out of the tiny hovel. Her voice trailed off though, and much like the child she sounded it was plain to tell that wasn't all there was to it. "I mean, she DID used to lead the goblins... but even then she just led them. It's her son who's dangerous. Hoooooooo boy is he dangerous." she admits sheepishly. The light coming from inside the gem changes, as if the facets were directing it more in Lathliss' direction. "Well, you're KIND of right." she explains, "See, Mama Kurg wanted the goblins to join the shards together, but she couldn't do that. Because of all the humans and stuff. So she had the goblins try to wipe them all out, but see THEN the goblins almost got wiped out. So she had the tribe stay in the swamp instead. Then her SON got really good at alchemy. Not like Mama Kurg though, like REALLY good at alchemy. He said he could make new females, and they could burn the humans and stuff." It might seem a bit odd to the group how casually the childish gem is discussing the genocide of any humans in the area.
Handling the gem you're not able to discover it's make or purpose, but you are VERY aware that what you're handling is an intelligent magical item. They are incredibly rare, often the result of special circumstance or events during the making of a magical item, and normally have powers and a will of their own. They are capable of potentially forcing a wielder to act in their interest if unwilling.
Tymos seems unfazed by Kevan's comments for once, though his brow does furrow. He guards against the ghoul, adjusting his position enough to keep it's attention. Which makes it all the easier for Jaxom to plunge his gauntlet into it from the side. The blade bites deep, more than enough to end it. ...but for good measure Alden cleaves down through it's collar to it's midsection to nearly split it in two.
I think the Zelkarune's Horns and champion district make an amazing combination with a dragonheir. From iconography, to feats and district trait. Even has the added benefit of Greyhawk deities including Bahamut. Cool, I can get some work done now that I have figured it out.
I love the idea of a beefy himbo dragonheir fighter advancing into dragon disciple with a single caster level. With all the magus, buckleswashers, and monks a meaty fighter sounds good. edit: Though just straight dragonheir is probably the best option.
"They don't listen to her anymore." the gem explains in a nervous tone that set off a rapid flicker to match it's hurried words, "She can barely survive by herself, please don't hurt her." There is a brief pause before she adds, "My name is Ruby. I'm just... ummm... a Ruby?"" The goblin stirs, muttering softly to herself but does not wake. As Miles casts his spell he does not so much detect a magical aura coming from the gem, so much as it's aura shines throughout the entire cramped space. Whatever magic created this gem was likely beyond any goblin that lived. He would need to handle it to discern more though.
Been very quiet in here. I hope those who have expressed interest are still hard at work. If you have any questions for me please feel free to ask.
@Eochaidh- Going to say no to that since you had a chance ahead of the fight to cast it and the other melee already posted their actions. Probably for the best sitting behind the DM screen here. Kevan's alchemist fire doesn't seem to cause much damage to the ghouls on the top end of their formation, but when Eochaidh's conjured rocks hammer down they crumple under the brutal hail of rocks. The short lived flames were marred and smoldered wounds, and every ghoul present had been battered, bearing horrible contusions and blunt damage wounds that seeped black blood. The two ghouls on the bottom of the formation scramble forward over the rubble in a disorganized rush at Tymos. Alden cuts the closest one down. The armor wearing ghoul steps back though, moves to the wall, and pushes past a ragged tapestry into a space beyond. Now only one badly wounded ghoul remained, and Tymos glared at it before striking.
Despite the haggard condition of the only remaining foe Tymos somehow managed to have it sidestep his swing.
Tying this on my phone was a nightmare. Should have brought my laptop. Wow, worth it!
Haven't played anything set in Greyhawk and many years. Can roll at the very least as the system seems interesting. Well, let's see what charming himbo rolls.
Okay, so I fumbled that a bit. Looks like 16, 12, 13, 12, 9, 13 huh.
...I am sorely tempted to make another gestalt monk/dragonheir.
What’s the rest of group 1 like? Group one at present consists of a Paladin (Front line.), Brawler (Ditto), Rogue, Witch (Healer/Support), and Druid. The current plan is for the druid to retire their character after the party completes their current shard, and has been kind enough to continue to play through despite their schedule being as it is. My request for a full arcane caster to fill that slot may seem a bit meta, but it would be the most direct route to fill gaps in the role of magical blaster.
The quiet breathing of the goblin continues as the withered old matriarch continues to sleep despite the conversation. The gem, however, flickers as a voice speaks. It is a bright and child-like voice of a young girl that seems to originate from the gem as it's flickering matches the cadence of it's speech. "Please don't hurt Mama Kurg." it requests, "She hasn't done anything to you."
Initiative Order: Party
The group decides to leave their charge in the hidden room and press on to the final chamber to end things. Kevan secures the secret door again to hopefully keep anything from disturbing her slumber. Leading the group forward the halfling peeks into the unlit room beyond, noting a group of ghouls arranged in a loose formation inside. Standing and waiting, but not quietly. They jerk their heads around, seeming to twitch and making guttural sounds in their throats. With no intention of sneaking up on them the group steps forward, arranged proudly for battle. Tymos makes a show of unsheathing his sword and pointing it to the center ghoul, the one wearing leather they had spotted before. "Your head is mine!" he announces loudly.
Right, should probably specify that when I said 4th level arcane caster I meant full caster. Trawets has the right of it. They should be second level assuming there isn't a TPK in what is to come. So a person to play a fourth level (full) arcane caster for group one, and another person to play a second level character for group two that isn't a full caster.
Three years past the world was sundered by a wizard's attempt to recreate Nethy's feat of godhood. Shattered into countless demi-planes with no seeming hope for a future. In one of these shards the party has lived a quiet life in the small village of Passbog, until the survivors of the local goblin tribe attempted to snuff out the people who remained. The party fought them off, tracked the survivors into the swamp, and discovered a sentient gem residing with a goblin elder. This gem, the heart of their "shard", was created to help merge it's shard with another. Piecing together two parts of the broken world. Greetings applicants, I am GM GuardYourPrivates and this is the re-recruitment thread for Shards of Golarion. I am currently trying to recruit one player for BOTH of my active tables, and as such have decided to make a new thread rather than updating both old threads. I currently need a 4th level arcane caster for the first group. The second group is well set for primary casters but could use a fifth body to refill numbers. Character Creation Rules: CC to start at level 4/2 with rolled stats (4d6, reroll 1s, drop lowest), max hp at first level, roll for hit dice after that with half hit dice if rolling lower, background skills, Elephant in the Room, max gold at first level, and two traits.
If it's not occult or third party it should be fine. Not planning for unchained classes. Recommended to have some kind of crafting or item generation skill given the potential to craft with special materials or make use of downtime rules. Campaign Traits: Craft All - You've always been a crafter. You have a deep passion for your profession. Supplies in your shard may be scarce, but you've had nothing but time to practice your trade. You have managed to learn new tricks and take no penalty for using improvised tools. You get an additional +1 trait bonus on craft and profession checks. When you make craft checks to create an item you make progress at half again the normal speed. When earning capital with craft or profession you add 1 to the capital earned. Note on Crafting: The campaign will be using downtime rules for crafting. It will be important to have a craft or profession to be able to create what the world cannot provide. Beyond that though, there will be a special material that will eventually be available for the party to craft with. Crafting skills that will prove useful for working this material are craft glass, stonemasonry, and cloth. The party is currently in the process of merging their shard with another, and as such where your character will be introduced is not yet set. This obviously creates a few problems when crafting a backstory. I do ask that you have some formative experience and general concept for your character though. Re-recruitment will be for three weeks, ending the 17th of May. I look forward to seeing what everyone submits!
Rabbit's result.: The cape is, at it's core, a very fancy looking cape of protection +2. Beyond that though it appears to be a wondrous magical item of singular nature. Rabbit actually read about it in a book of Malice's once. Ostenso, in it's infancy as a city and before it was properly a territory of Andor, was once under siege. A thief who primarily stole from the rich helped the poorer citizens of the outer wall first by stealing them food, and then to defend their homes when the lord had abandoned the wall to their enemies. Using this cape he hid people from attackers, and working with his group of friends he managed to retake the outer gate and trap some of the enemy army between the walls. Saving many people and turning the tide. He ultimately vanished, assumed dead along with his friends. This must have been the final resting place of their tokens and his magical crimson cape, though who knows if the ancient hero truly died or merely slipped out of legend. On top of it's innate protection it cannot be stained or blemished, and anyone prominently wearing it will receive a +2 competence bonus to charisma checks. In addition, so long as the user is standing next to a solid surface that could provide cover (wall, furniture, tree, etc) they can pull up the hood to turn invisible as per the invisibility spell. Moving from their position will also break the invisibility. When the user uses the cloak to hide in this fashion it will leave an indelible crimson shadow mark on the surface used to hide.
Have a reward! A perfectly mundane, pretty cape. Nothing special. It's just shiny I'm sure.
Ulthak has to duck low to enter the dugout space, and once inside he doesn't have much more headroom. The space inside is dim, but very much not the hovel he might have expected. Some logs had been creatively used to make furniture, small furniture, and stacked atop a little dresser and cupboard were a variety of clutter. It was a task just to take in what was stuffed inside and placed atop the dual pieces of furniture. Preserved animal parts, crudely blown glass vials that were warped and oddly shaped, Small tools formed from wire and bits of scrap metal, and even the occasional piece of cutlery likely plundered or nicked over time. Along with spare rags, cotton, and leather set aside to either handle or potentially clean some of the mess. The two more noteworthy pieces of furniture though were the small iron cookstove, including a smokestack going up through the roots of the tree, and a worn but rather comfortable sitting chair! One that had a haggard old goblin woman softly snoring as she laid curled back in it. A bit of spittle running down the side of her face. She was likely the oldest goblin he had ever seen, and in her lap sat a palm sized ruby. It's perfect clarity not diminished by the uneven facets it bore. A small light emanated from it's center, flickering gently like some inner flame.
Thankfully the party doesn't come across ghouls as they move back toward the secret door Kevan found. Scouting ahead he ensures things are safe before positioning the group at the hidden door. Prying it open it takes a bit of force to first crack the door ajar, thick dust and debris scattering as the terribly long seal is broken. Peeking into the dark Kevan does not spot any tripwires or enemies. Merely aged racks of armor and weapons. Opening the door fully the party finds a wide assortment of rusted chain, decayed leather, many polearms and bows with rotted hafts. No proper blades, though a few picks with likewise rotted handles. A few chests were stacked around and so rotted they could be opened just by pulling their clappers off. The contents mostly cloth and scrolls that flaked apart to the touch. "This must have been left after the siege lifted." Tymos marvels, "This is almost as old as the city." Inside the largest were a few items that had held up. Emblems wrapped in wax cloth that maintained their silvery luster to start. All bore the iconography of a caped man wielding a sword and bow. A small tattered sack containing a like number of uncut gems of every color. Sapphires, emeralds, rubies, garnets, diamonds, and more. All very clear and small. Perhaps they were companions to the emblems. The final parchment wrapped package came apart in Kevan's hands, but what was inside was so pristine as to be awe-inducing. A brilliant crimson cape, made of what felt like silk, and pristine even through all this time. Even the scattering parchment refused to cling to it, sloughing off to the floor with it's dust.
You effectively scouted the entire revealed path there.
Ulthak finds it fairly easy to follow the tracks through the soft earth and muck of the swamp. The goblins stayed mostly in a group, and so the party sometimes had to walk around freshly churned mud for more solid ground.
After a while the tracks curve to a patch of barren and more solid ground in the far corner of the swamp. There, a bit of raised ground was held by the gnarled roots of a broken tree. It was a good fifteen feet across, the broken trunk angled out behind it where it had fallen years ago. The goblins had stopped here for some reason, and Ulthak and Lathliss both spot a small hollow between two prominent roots. An entrance to some kind of dug out or burned out space under the tree. Too small for the goblin group they followed, and the tracks led off elsewhere.
Map is updated so you lot can see what Kevan sees. I hope you all enjoyed the short break for Easter.
"If she got in here then the ghouls really do have another way in and out." Tymos reasons, "But still, it doesn't make any sense for her to be here." He lets out a short bark of a laugh at the thought of her trying to take charge. "She's not really a noble. Just an Andoran highborn." he explains, "Came here to try and work a deal for her family and then the world broke apart. She hasn't had a lick of pull since then. Other than with the rabble. I was more worried she'd get all of you on her side. I am curious to learn how she got here." The woman doesn't wake as Eochaidh treats her, but she does stir. Meanwhile, Kevan decides to do some scouting. The halfing carefully slinks through the narrowing tunnel. He finds several dead ends. Cramped dugouts with caskets. Some filled and empty, some disturbed and left at rest. Finally he hears some noise ahead, and from the sound he can make out several voices and movement from what must be a larger chamber. He also spots another path leading to the chamber as well, likely coming from the other path they saw before. It was unlikely he would get more information without risking being spotted, so he doubles back a moment to consider. It was then that he spotted something odd. The wall here felt different as he smoothed his palm across it, and remembering the dead drop from before, he inspect it to find a brick along the floor that has a small gap underneath it. Taking out a length of wire he slides it underneath and finds a catch. A secret door. One he could open if he wanted to.
Just waiting for Ulthak and Tim to chime in.
Eochaidh takes the time to tend to the woman's wound and her infection. Her condition didn't seem deeply onset yet, and having got to her she might recover. Rabbit's additional healing brings a sigh from her as her wound is healed, but she doesn't immediately wake.
Tymos looks the woman over and his expression sours further. "She isn't your normal citizen." he says with a frown, "A noble woman who came here just before the sundering, and an agitator. She was detained earlier this week. How did she end up here?" He looks openly troubled by this mystery.
Checking the goblin bodies Lathliss spots something strange about them. Shifting a ragged tunic aside he spots one with a large breast, though it was clearly male. Another one had it's features twisted no in a death grimace, but half of it's face blending into more effeminate features. "Bloody hells. I thought we got all the females... or we did." Tel Beys said in confusion. Ulthak leads the group through the grass and into the thin strip of woods directly bordering the swamp. The tracks converged there, the goblins apparently splitting up and becoming easier to follow. As the party gets to the softer earth and spots some of the fallen trees along the border of the swamp they come to a spot where the earth has been tamped down. It seems many goblins had gathered here before the attack. Bending low to examine the traps the half orc can't make out their exact numbers, but with his keen eye he spots a pair of tracks that press deeper than the others. Perhaps belonging to human sized creatures. At the same time, they were clearly made by the bulbous, webbed feet of the Frogstump tribe goblins. Whatever the case, there was an easier to follow trail ahead with footprints sunk into and left in the mud of the swamp.
"Disposed of. Burned." Tymos says, "Can't risk them getting back up, or feeding the ghouls more than they already have." As Kevan draws closer he quickly discerns the prone form is a half elf woman. Looking her over he spots fine clothing, or at least what used to be noble garb he recognized as Andoran. It was worn with time and dirty. As he gave her a nudge with his boot she groaned but did not stir. Near her shoulder was a damp wound, clearly a nasty bite.
Tymos seems confused by the situation. "The last abduction... well we've had a few deaths. An abduction hasn't been for weeks."
It doesn't take long for the group to police the perimeter around the inn and blacksmith. They quickly see where the goblins came in from. A ladder resting against the back of the inn seemed to be where most of them made their way, but there was also a pair of bare footprints behind the smithy were Fogril tended to bury the ashes when he emptied out the bottom of the furnace. Not too far off they spot the heavy boot prints of an armored dwarf heading to the woods. The strides were long, likely from running.
As anyone who might protest Kevan's actions failed to notice the group moves on none the wiser. Looking down the hall Eochaidh does not sense any undead. The figure does not stir.
As Kevan glances about he hears and spots nothing. Though he is aware the creeping ghoul that initially spotted them was not amongst those the party killed.
Seeing no danger the group presses on with Kevan leading. Their first stop is to head down the south hall from this cross intersection. There they find another burial room. The stone sarcophagus in the chamber were undisturbed, but also unfilled. It seemed this was a chamber not yet used to house the more esteemed dead. Blatantly odd, since both Tymos and Barik had implied people had starved before the ghoul infestation became a thing.
Kevan spots something strange while looking for traps. A piece of worked stone that hadn't settled the same as the rest of the disused room. He was able to pry it loose, and then slide it aside to reveal a small bag of coins. Inside were platinum coins. 200 platinum, can attempt to pocket it with a sleight of hand opposed by those paying attention. Moving on, the group finds the nearest hall parallels the intersection they had come from, and then curves back around to meet up with it. The space in the intersection was occupied with stone caskets. Some were disturbed, others not, and bones littered the floor. With only one path ahead of them the group travels deeper and come to another intersection. Kevan leads the way.
The perceptive rogue spots another trap here, though a bit more devious than the last. Where the hallway opened into the intersection there was another tripwire, this one made of extremely fine wire. Tracing it to the wall he finds both corners have a small spring loaded dart ready to fire. This was another simple enough trap to disarm, requiring nothing more than the darts to be blocked when the trap was sprung. You also now have two poison darts. Checking to the left and right Kevan notices two lesser worked hallways that were cluttered with stone caskets and uneven. Both narrowed and curved off. Ahead the main hall collapsed after some distance, and along the rubble and dirt he spotted a slender form laying prone and facing away.
Tim's aim managed to keep most of the inn intact. Burning goblins in the open with magical fire tended not to catch, though the floor was scorched and covered in a mix of blood and char. Milana had to spend a minute to compose herself, but she walks over to the arcanist to inspect the damage herself. With a sigh she brings her hand out and chants the same melodic limerick, then touches him.
"All things mend with time. Almost all things. Thank you all for coming to our aid." she says as she steps past Tim to give Ulthak a inquisitive look, "Are you alright?" The groups actions before entering did a lot of work, but there was still fire to put out. Though hardly a blaze it was extinguished before it could do more harm. To their surprise Tel Beys had managed to help Fogril up, and though still badly wounded the dwarf was seemingly ambulatory with help. That and sheer rage. "Where did that coward go?" he asked in a grim voice, "That strumpet born lickspittle of a dw- nay she is no kin to me." Tel Beys favored him with a reproachful look, but she didn't dismiss him either. "Dagna fled when the goblins came." she explained, "I can understand being... pragmatic when faced with superior numbers. I only downed one in the inside of the smithy before Fogril got ambushed." The dwarf gave her a wicked look, but she matched it and he eventually calmed after taking a painful breath.
As the remaining goblin, drunk as it was, looked about it came to a sobering realization. It was now the last one left alive. It gulped nervously and looked up at Ulthak, and then made a break for it.
The little thing turns and takes one step before the edge of Ulthak's shield buried itself in the back of it's skull, dropping it to the floor dead. As Milana saw this the women slumped and pulled a chair out for herself. Sitting down with a whimper of pain from the earlier shots to her sides. She murmurs a few arcane words in a melodious voice and casts a spell to heal herself.
"Please tell me that was the last time my inn becomes a battleground." she prays.
Tymos tests his body after the healing and nods in satisfaction. "Let us press on then. Let them tremble." he dourly says. There are still hints of the anger, the aggressiveness he showed when engaging the ghouls before.
He's a baaaaaaad man.
Ulthak continues to make fierce swings at the goblin before him, but this one had caught on to his attack routines by now. It ducked and shifted, bobbing under the wave of his shield. The goblin facing Miles and Lathliss gave the human most of it's attention after he had wounded it's arm, and with a song in his heart the half elf jams his shortspear into it's chest to end it's life.
All it takes is a clear strike from Jaxom to the battered ghoul's head to finish the job and leave it inert. As it falls the crypt, so full of clatter and shrieks just a moment before, went quiet.
After a few moments of stillness Tymos gives an audible groan and works his body to clear himself fully from the paralysis. "First time I've seen those things paralyze someone and not tear them apart." he says as he looks back to Kevan. He still seemed angry, likely due to his own injuries and the firebomb that included him before. "Do you have healing?" he asked after some hesitation.
There are three goblins alive at the moment. The unwounded one attacking Milana, the goblin Miles just shot by the back door, and the freshly scorched goblin engaged with Ulthak.
Initiative Order: Goblins
Miles takes a hop back, catching the goblin by surprise as the stupid creature thought he would fight in melee. As he fired his shortbow the thing brought it's arms up to block and had the arrow pierce a forearm and stick into it's chest. It accidentally tore the arrowhead from it's torso as it reacted, and wailed as blood ran freely.
The remaining scorched goblin charges Ulthak, attacking in concert with it's fellow goblin.
His primary foe misses horribly, but the pain maddened goblin charging him from the side manages to bring it's club in behind the half orc's guard and give him a biting crack to the shoulder. The goblin Miles wounded hops forward after him and swing.
The goblin surprised miles by thrusting out it's club as it hops forward, poking him hard in the ribs. The final goblin pushes up to attack Milana, furious at her killing his ally.
This time the club comes in not at hip level, but catches her in the ribs. She bends low, almost falls, and reels back to step away from the goblin.
The near dead goblin that got the first real strike in on Ulthak didn't get to celebrate, as Tim moved around his ally and loosed one last jet of flame that left it dead and it's ally badly wounded.
Initiative Order: Eochaidh (Current Initiative)
Alden's diagonal slice comes down into the collar of the ghoul where the fire had scorched it. The blade sinks deep, and when Alden draws it back there is greasy charred skin along the edge of the blade. The ghoul slumps, arm limp and shoulder partly separated. Despite the horrific injury carved clear down into it's torso the thing still lurches about.
The first two were a bit beefier. As to the goblin still standing, you have only done five damage to him and put him on death's door. The one you killed is the one who failed his reflex when you roasted the trio. Milana just finished off the third of them.
Initiative Order: Goblins Ulthak
Tim manages to hold on to consciousness, and his flames sweep over the two wounded goblins again. The nearly dead, charred goblin right before him was upgraded to entirely dead. It's rigid body smoking as it fell to the floor. The one behind it looked about to drop as it stood, gasping for cooler air with a wheeze after getting it's lungs singed. Milana, seeing the two goblins getting ready to gank up on her, dashed forward and thrust her rapier out in an attempt to end the one Timothy had wounded.
Her rapier tip thrusts forward toward the goblin's neck. It leans back desperately, only to have the tip of the rapier flash upward and plunge through it's eye and find it's brain. Milana then quickly drew back and prepared to face down the remaining goblin.
Initiative Order: Eochaidh
Jaxom follows the firebomb with a double strike into the ghoul directly before him as he steps into the space. Both strikes drive into the sternum of the thing, and there is a sickening crunch that follows the second strike. The ghoul's chest turned dark black in the center as it slumped and collapsed. It would seem the undead thing needed at least some of it's organs intact even if just to support the necromancy that sustained it. The remaining ghoul clearly considers fleeing as it looks back, but some kind of compulsion seems to twist it's thoughts back around to combat. Perhaps the ghoulish hunger these creatures endured every moment of their existence. It tried to press itself against Tymos to claw and bite.
Tymos has to leverage his shield under the jaw of the thing to keep it from biting him. One claw sinks deeply into his arm as it does.
Tymos holds out against the pain, but then the other claw finds his side and digs in at his unprotected hip.
The claws find good purchase and Tymos winces, jaw clenching as he stops moving. The ghoul smirks evilly before Rabbit steps up and heals the same man who once abused him as a slave.
The bleeding slows, though Tymos continues to remain paralyzed. For the moment...
The goblins both swing wildly in panic as they try to stop Timothy from casting. One connects, leaving him barely standing.
Which ghoul are you targeting?
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