First, I owe everyone apologies for vanishing without a word. I've come back to try to apologize for doing so, and to let you know that I have no idea when I'll be able to meaningfully return.
That's as far s anyone needs to read. If you're curious, you are free to keep going, though.
Why did I vanish? My wife had started an evaluation of her knees, scheduled to run for about 2 months. First appointment was on a Monday. Late that same Thursday we were told the evaluation was over and they were going to schedule her for a full knee replacement in her worse leg. We found out that next Monday that surgery was that Thursday, a week after we were told she would be having surgery.
I took some sick leave to help her through the surgery and earliest recovery stages. I've been working half days, taking sick leave for the rest, for the past couple of weeks, trying to keep her from doing too much with the live-in grand kids and doing her exercises, with only partial luck.
She's doing her exercises while I type, and the grand kids are down for their naps. Today is going to be the last day I PLAN to do the half-day thing. Thing is, even having been home so much more than normal, I've been going non-stop. We were two weeks past her surgery before I even got into the office where my computer sits, and we're over three weeks past it now and I've had to steal the time to let people know what's going on.
I don't know how long it will be before I can reasonably expect the leisure time to properly contribute to these games again. I am sorry for vanishing, but I have to focus on my wife's actual needs before I play.
The generic post to share before attempting to recovery post:
So, I got the flu. Not really over it, yet, but past the worst of it.
I went to get tested to verify it was flu, and the care providers went down the "better safe than sorry hole" a might to far, in my opinion.
Standard questions, designed to check for other, deeper concerns/problems, right? "Do you have any tightness in your chest?" "I've been coughing for about three days at this point, yes, I have a tightness in my chest!" So, they stopped everything about verifying the flu in order to check for a heart attack. Thing is, my fever had just started to break, and I was not only DRENCHED in sweat, but I was still actively sweating that hard. They couldn't get a good EKG read because the contact stickers wouldn't. Stick, I mean.
They called an ambulance and transferred me to an ER, to make sure I wasn't having a heart attack. The ER team was focused on EXACTLY one thing, for obvious reasons. First thing they did different? They took that super medical tape and taped the sensors down. EKG told them almost immediately that there was no heart attack going on. I was still in that ER for nearly 15 hours . . ..
IV fluids. Roughly 2.4 liters of fluid pushed into my system. Breathing treatment. Seems when I arrived in the ER, my O2 saturation was around 82. They started to admit me in order to watch my O2 saturation levels, but after I sat in their ER for that long without any further dips, they accepted it might not still be required and discharged me instead of continuing to wait for a room. Having an asthmatic wife means we have a nebulizer at home, and that helped sell the release, too. Still spending more time asleep than awake, for now.
Missed a couple of Santa gigs the family had lined up. Went to a photoshoot with a family yesterday. I was there for about 10 minutes, just needing to sit and smile, but I stumbled into the house when I got home, completely exhausted. I'm supposed to go get caught in a neighbor's house tonight. Very worried about going. Just as worried about denying their kids.
This last weekend, both of the youngest generation (one is 2 the other just had her first birthday) got sick. So did their mom. Monday so did their dad. Somewhere in there, grandma got sick, too. Now I'm sick. At least the youngest seems to be over it.
If you need to bot me to keep things moving, please do.
I'm sorry, but I'm not even managing to focus to play spades on my phone right now, and that's amazingly brainless.
"I'm fairly limited in combat options, but I will do what I can. With that mist up, I can't see him to target him, so it being gone will be a big deal if you want to just have a go at him."
Finally looking at the map, I would have had to be up there to have line of effect for the Channels. Hmmm . . . Don't speak Orc, and no one's pulling back that I can tell, so . . ..
Jafit falls back to trying to keep everyone in the fight, astonished at how much harm this man has done and how little the group has managed to do back.
Selective Channel to heal with no fancy description this time:3d6 ⇒ (2, 2, 2) = 6
Where did everyone go? I can (should) spam healing again, but if the other players aren't playing?
Jafit shivers a bit as the wave of cold washes past, so he reaches deep within, finding a memory to spark the desired warmth, the filling, spreading, warm emanations one experiences while enjoying a good cup of hot cocoa with your family and friends goes to recharge their souls and counter the dhill of the stranger's spell.
Selective Channel Energy to Heal:3d6 ⇒ (1, 6, 6) = 13
Failed, so 26 fire damage. Fire Resistance 5 drops that to 21. Fire damage activates Fire in the Blood, giving Jafit Fast Healing 2 for 1 round.
As the flames wash over Jafit, he just stands there and let's the warmth flow over and through him, freeing another aspect of his passion for life. He smiles and reaches into the air around himself, pulling energy from the environment and releasing it in a wave that feels like the heat of passion itself as it washes over and through his companions, skipping the two enemies Jafit recognizes.
Selective Channel Energy to Heal:3d6 ⇒ (3, 5, 1) = 9
So Jafit goes from 43 to 22 HP, then Fast Heals to 24, then receives 9 from the Channel for 33 HP.
Was at the hospital from about 0730 till about 1615. Home. reasonably awake, and medicated. The entire area over the hernia and belly button is under s bandage I'm not supposed to touch until Saturday, so all I know is I have some ugly looking injuries from where the laparoscopic entry points were on my left side. Not as limited in my movements this morning as I thought I would be, which is good. Abdominal muscles are a little tight, though. Don't think I can blame them. I figured they would be a LOT more mad than they seem to be.
Hey. I have surgery in the morning. Pretty minor, but it IS surgery. Outpatient, with a normal "don't work" period of 2 days, and a "no exertion" period of like 6 weeks.
I should be giving all my games another pass this evening, but I make no promises for the next day or two.
What is it? An umbilical hernia repair. Surgeon says I have multiple hernias right there together. All I know for sure is the general practitioner who referred em to the surgeon had it right when he said it looks like I'm going to give birth to a Titleist.
"Fair enough. But SOMETHING lights your fire, so to speak. There's something you care about. Everybody has something? What's important to you?"
Diplomacy:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (8) + 12 = 20
----
"'Master of the Spire?' WOW! Care to discuss your charge, at all? Anything you would be willing to share about the place would be MARVELOUS, and could potentially eliminate our 'need' to continue."
Bluff:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22
Yeah, I'm pretty confident he's lying through borrowed teeth.
"I think I'm insulted twice over! First, because I am most certainly not a thief, and second because there is no way common anythings could make it this far down the spire! We come peaceably, and ask for peaceful treatment in return, nothing more."
The ifrit quickly casts a spell, then moves up and touches Orovan on the back, letting the warmth of a lazy summer day spread through his frame, the sounds of songbirds and children's laughter heard only by his ears . . ..
CLW:1d8 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6:facepalm:
6 level 1; 5 level 2; 9 channel; Enlarge/Reduce remain for the day
The ifrit smiles. "Hardly. But the past few weeks have provided an unexpected variety of trust and distrust. They are probably trying to decide what kind of fire you have burning in your belly. I've found them quite talkative at unexpected times. So, what is your passion? What keeps you working to stay alive?"
303G, 8S after sell
+1536 from module for
1839G, 8S
Buy
1500 Healer's Satchel
1500 spent
339G, 8S left on hand
+4 Prestige
6 Prestige available
Level 3 to Level 4:
339G, 8S starting
Sell
25 MW Backpack (50)
364G, 8S after sell
+3711 from module for
4075G, 8S
Buy
1000 +1 to armor.
1000 +1 to shield.
2000 Handy Haversack.
4000 spent
75G, 8S left on hand
+4 Prestige
8 Prestige available
Current purcahsing
75G, 8S starting
Sell
Nothing
75G, 8S after sell
+2400 from module
+4800 from module
7275G, 8S
Buy
1000 Cloak of Resistance +1
2000 Ring of Protection +1
2500 Healer's Gloves
5500 spent
1775G, 8S left on hand
+2 Prestige
+4 Prestige
-2 Prestige for Wand CLW
12 Prestige available/16 Fame
Spells Learned:
Murderous Command
Flaming Sphere
Hold Person
Scorching Ray
Feat:
Extra Channeling
Recalculated XP choices since I forgot I already had a slow level:
5.5 for 6 FULL yields 6.5
6.5 for 7 FULL yields 7.5
7.5 for 8 FULL yields 8.5
8.5 for 9 FULL yields 9.5
9.5 for 10 FULL yields 10.5
10.5 for 11 HALF yields 11
11 for 12 HALF yields 11.5
11.5 for 13 HALF yields 12
12 for 14 HALF yields 12.5
12.5 for 15 HALF yields 13
13 for 16 FULL yields 14
Not enough Fame, yet, to purchase the Headband of Alluring Charisma +2 which also hasn't appeared on a chronicle, yet . . .. Next level should push me over the Fame requirement.
"Life is what happens while you are making other plans."
On my arrival day at the World Scout Jamboree, I got caught in a DELUGE of rain. My phone refused to charge because of water detected in the charging port. It has been drained of power sitting in a ziploc bag of rice for a couple of weeks, and STILL reports water in the charging port.
I'll find out later how bad off my phone really is. It can charge through induction, at the worst. Just didn't have any induction chargers at the Jamboree!
Posting this to my games, and I will come back later today and try ot catch up through them.
Thank you for your understanding!
Oh, and the group of 16 staffers (including me) running the 30-target 10m static archery range had people step up to the Shooting Line and throw arrows downrange almost 10,000 times (for 50,000 arrows), including 1 blind archer, 1 wheel-chair bound archer that we held up so she could hoot standing like everyone else, and 1 one-armed archer.
Thursday, 18 July, in the wee hours of the morning, I get on an airplane and leave for the international Boy Scout World Jamboree. I'll be 1 of the roughly 120 people working on JUST the archery ranges, helping the attendees have some fun.
I will have only my phone for electronic access, but AT&T has wired the dickens out of the facility, and a signal should never be my problem. Power on the other hand . . .. There will be a limited number of places to plug things in (compared to the tens of thousands of attendees) and no safe place to plug something in and walk away from it, which means time spent charging is time spent NOT doing any of the things people are there to do.
I am going to try to check in and cover anything I should cover, but I don't know for sure how well it is going to go.
I won't be home again until 3 August.
Actually, part of the reason I've been less responsive the past little bit is I've been getting ready to go. Still have a lot to do, honestly.
If you need to bot me to keep the story moving, BOT ME.
Well, I'm glad the octopi are gone, but, Jafit's not really designed to deal with this sort of attack. Next, the croc should go into a death spin, yes? BAD for Jafit.
Odds are not in my favor, but I'm going to try it anyway. Defensive casting of Burning Hands while grappled. 2 concentration checks by the rules. I don't know the DC for the grappled one, so I'll post it second.
Defensive Casting Concentration DC 17:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27 Grappled Concentration DC 11+Croc's CMB (11 for 22?):1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27
Holy Schnikies! Showing a little passion for life there, ain't he?
Given the locations, and the ineffectiveness of the burning hands on the eidolon, Jafit pulls his wand and taps Hovok, trying to stoke the embers of his life's fire . . ..
Oh, COOL! The arrangement of people means I can cast a burning hands at the eidolon without hitting any party members AND without moving!
Seeing the tactical situation flow and change, Jafit once again releases his passion in a burst of open flame, much of it washing against the wall so close to his companions, but the edge reaching out for the eidolon.
We needed the damage dealt, but now I'm in the wrong spot to heal!
Jafit struggles to adjust his position, again.
Swim w/ GM Fiat:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19
In an amazingly easy move, he manages to put himself closer to where he thinks he should be . . .. Once there, he lets the warm glow of his passion for life spread over his compatriots (should get everybody, I think), hoping that it will provide them the strength to survive this fight.
Channel, selecting not to cover any enemies in range:2d6 ⇒ (6, 2) = 8
3 of 7 1st level spells, 0 of 4 2nd level spells, and 0 of 7 channels remain.
Edit: Oops. Forgot the Reflex save. Don't want to lose those nice rolls, so adding it to the bottom instead of trying my luck all over again.
Torn between trying to heal Hovok or help with the threat, Jafit realizes that the enemy is tearing through his companions quickly enough that the healing he has available won't be enough to keep Hovok swimming through another flurry of attacks like that. So he knuckles down and tries to swim to a new position.
Swim w/ GM Fiat:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14Woo-Hoo!
Moving into the spot he wanted to, Jafit unleashes a fan of fire at the team's wet opponents.
3 of 7 1st level spells, 0 of 4 2nd level spells, and 1 of 7 channels remain.
Edit: The plan if he failed to make the swim check was to go ahead and cast a CLW on Hovok. Just in case I missed and the 14 actually isn't good enough, or I can't really swim that far.
