For the record, I was considering dropping out, too. It's not much fun playing when it feels like the GM is consistently annoyed with the players.
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Once Kaalul enters the pump room, he calls out. "Melira? We know you're in here. Come out."
Kaalul makes a sound halfway between a "Hmm" and a growl. He asks the captain where the pump room is. Making sure that Gashnakh is under watch (but cleaning him up is fine), the Toragdan Inquisitor gathers any other dwarven allies around and makes his way there.
"Let's go."
"You're not the captain. I don't have to listen to you or answer your questions. " and he turns back to his duties. "That's who we're going to go see. So you can come the easy way, or you can come the dwarven way, but you're coming. Your captain told us to not be gentle." Kaalul rests his hand on his warhammer.
"You were seen going into the hold where the girallon was set free and attacked your fellow crewmen. What was your business in there?" Whatever Gashnakh's answer, Kaalul responds with, "Come with me down below."
Kaalul finds the half-orc in question. As he approaches Gashnakh, he prays for Torag's guidance and observes the man. If he had released the four-armed creature, he surely had some idea of what had happened below deck. How is the man reacting right now, as some of the dangerous dwarven warriors are coming back up?
"Gashnakh? What's your job on this ship?"
"Where is Gashnakh now? We'd like to talk to him."
Kaalul starts to ask the oarsmen who else has come in or out of that door other than Harlex.
"...Torag holds Cayden Cailean as an ally. The Accidental God's patronage of strong drink is something nearly all dwarves appreciate." Orthoon may or may not have noticed that Kaalul did not directly answer the cleric's question.
Kaalul ignores the captain for now, pleased to see that his comrades are taking him to task. He retrieves his crossbow and moves to Orthoon. "It got around my shield a couple times."
”Nay often a choke point works against the dwarves!” Kurgan remarked as he stabbed at the creature again. "Our tactics are sound for the situation at hand. Torag will see us through!"
Kaalul's last attack by his hammer resulted in a bone-crunching impact on the four-armed beast. "Again!" he shouts.
This felt right. Standing alongside fellow dwarven warriors, attacking the chaos and avenging the dead. Never mind that if it weren't for the wooden walls of this deteriorating vessel, they would all be underwater.
For the record, Kaalul fights considerably better when he's flanking with someone also. It's sound dwarven tactics to surround your foe. :)
Dropping his crossbow, Kaalul sidesteps closer to the four-armed monstrosity and draws his hammer. Now armed with Torag's sacred weapon, he swings.
"I'm glad the rest of you could make it down here."
Kaalul quickly states to those around him what they're about to fight and any information he thinks is relevant for doing so before jumping down into the ship. "It's a girallon," Kaalul barks. He doesn't think he needs to tell the other experienced dwarven warriors that they should avoid getting hit by the beast. Once he's leaped down, Kaalul readies his shield and holds it up next to his crossbow. He notes the relatively narrow deck and decides it would be best to draw the beast to where it can be surrounded. He fires a bolt from his crossbow at the girallon and bellows a battle cry.
"DWARVEN MIGHT IS UPON YOU!"
Kaalul quickly states to those around him what they're about to fight and any information he thinks is relevant for doing so before jumping down into the ship.
"Down here!" Kaalul calls to the others. He bends over to start lifting the grate, but he doesn't do so because he's out of actions for this round.
Seeing how far away the steps down to the lower deck are from his position, Kaalul casts expeditious retreat and starts to sprint along the deck.
There seems to be some misunderstanding as to front and rear of the vessel. This is understandable since the drawing isn't by a naval architect or anyone vaguely familiar with boats. For the present combat, this won't matter, but if you wish to swap ends for your start point, you may do so.
At the sound of the crash and screaming, Kaalul starts to hustle below decks to investigate.
Kaalul spends time with Dolgrym at the front of the ship. Not wanting to be caught off-guard again, he'll make sure his crossbow is loaded. Despite his earlier altercation with the captain, he does not shirk on doing tasks on the ship that need doing. However, even if offered, if any of his dwarven allies are not welcome partaking of the daily catch, then he will also not partake. And he'll make sure the other dwarves he's travelling with know about it.
Kaalul narrows his eyes. "Just move on, then."
"What?!? One of my crewmen went over the side as well since you didn't notice. This is a dangerous trip on a dangerous river. What did you expect? A gondola trip down a canal in Abasalom? I'd be happy to put you all ashore here if you think there's too much risk aboard. " Kaalul is silent for a moment; he had not noticed that a crewman went over the side. He continues on in a more level tone of voice. "Your ship's railing broke. As captain, you are responsible for your ship and the condition it's in. "But I stand corrected: You almost got two of your passengers and one of your crewmen eaten. How you respond is likely to cement your reputation among dwarvenkind and the region." Kaalul glares for a moment longer (listening to Captain Bloodtusk if he has a response), and then stalks off to check on the three dwarves who went overboard.
Kaalul looks around for Captain Bloodtusk. "You almost got two of your passengers eaten," he accuses.
Kaalul doesn't need any boots, but he doesn't want any other reptiles getting the wrong idea about taking on a band of heavily armed (if not exactly buoyant) dwarven warriors. He fires at the retreating crocodile.
Dang, good luck Dolgrym. Rest up.
Kaalul grunts in surprise as he watches Biruta dive off the boat into the water. He gathers his wits as he sees an opening for a shot in between Orthoon's axe swinging and Kurgan's splashing.
He then moves over to be closer to the rope in case he's needed to start pulling on it.
"What about 'help me pull then in', BY PULLING ON THIS ROPE WITH ME, did you not understand? Do you want to help them or not?" Finally done setting up his crossbow, Kaalul spins around and picks the three closest sailors. "You, you, and you! Stop standing around and help her with pull them in! Do your jobs and let dwarven warriors do theirs!"
Kaalul spins back around, invokes Torag's Judgement on the beasts that threaten his comrades, and fires a bolt at the croc closest to him so that he wouldn't accidentally hit the dwarves they were trying to rescue.
Kaalul frantically finishes loading his repeating crossbow.
Orthboon: 24 (in the water)
********* "Good plan," Kaalul announces to Biruta. He calls down to the Kegstalkers, "Stay near each other; we'll throw a rope." Kaalul eyes the crocodiles in the river. Were they merely giant beasts, or something more?
He unlimbers his modified crossbow and pulls out set of five bolts. Once loaded, his repeating heavy crossbow can fire each bolt without taking the time to reload the weapon between each shot. He begins the process of loading the bolts into the weapon.
Kaalul mutters a prayer of thanks to Torag for dwarves' low center of gravity, but then scowls when he hears splashes as the Kegstalker brothers fall overboard.
As the boat railing snaps under the weight of the dwarves' toil, Kaalul braces his feet as best he can on the deck and tries to lean away from the fall in front of him.
Could someone make an icon for Orthoon. I've tried several times and failed. It's already done! We're on slide 2 of the maps, and all six of us have icons there.
the Disney dwarf is hiding in the upper-most left corner of the map Whoops, sorry Grumpy. I didn't pick up on this and added an icon for you. Feel free to delete whichever icon you don't want to use.
drbuzzard, thanks for putting the link to the map in the Campaign Info tab. Could you edit the link to use [url] tags? This forum puts a space in long strings of text every 75th character, so the link doesn't work unless we copy, paste, and then delete the space in our browser. Thanks. I'll go ahead and add all six of our alias icons to the map, but I'll let everyone position the icons themselves.
"I use an axe, so someone who might actually want to wield the hammer should carry it. I can carry the geode if no one else wants to." Crastor shrugs and will stand to go gather his bag. Kaalul picks up the hammer and rests it on his shoulder before heading out. Via the magical transport of dotted line on a map, you make your way to the south bank of the Kestrel river to meet up with your riverine transportation.
Assembled from the scavenged wrecks of several other vessels, the riverboat looks ungainly, with a wide forecastle and towerlike structure at the bow, and a high aftcastle at the stern. Upon his first sight of the Tadpole, Kaalul shakes his head and sighs, muttering a prayer requesting Torag's protection for the watercraft they were to travel on. Standing in front of it is a large, muscular half orc. He introduces himself "Greetings, I am Bloodtusk, captain of the Tadpole. Yes, I named it. I have been commissioned to transport you to two locations and I always honor my deals. Stay to the common areas on the vessel and we won't have any issues. If a door is locked, there's a reason and leave it alone. It is possible we will need some of you to pitch in on some sailing duties along the way, so it is best if any of you with boating experience let me know now. Do you have any questions?" "Torag's blessing on you and your crew, Captain." Kaalul walks up the gangplank and finds a place to stow his things.
The link is good for me, too. As brothers, Orthoon and Kurgan should have the same alias picture instead of Orthoon and Dolgrym. :)
Kaalul takes another quaff of ale, slams his mug, and emits a ritualistic belch that echoes throughout the stone room. "If we are to travel from Belzken into the Ghostlight Marsh and then to Redlake Fort, a riverboat makes sense. As Torag's children, we're not going to complain about the tools he gives us to protect dwarvenkind. However, it's fine to voice personal misgivings in the interests of raising awareness of dangers, threats, and hazards. "That said, if the boat isn't maintained by at least some dwarves, I don't trust it."
Dang, aside from Bruta, this is the dourest of alias avatars I've seen in a single campaign in a long time.
Kaalul quaffs his ale and slams his mug down hard on the stone table. It seems as if he does this as a ritual rather than out of any sense of enjoyment. If he attracts any attention when he does so, he pays it no mind. He nods and grunts in approval when he learns that giants are to be their quarry, and again when he learns that an artifact of an enemy forge deity is in dwarven possession. His fellow dwarves seem competent and knowledgeable, and he will consider them as such until they show him otherwise. They often do. Then, he will guide them back to the correct path.
dot dot dot
Hey all, sorry that I held things up! I wasn't able to log in yesterday. I am also on vacation; I'm in Yellowstone and Grand Teton Parks with my family, my wife's sister's family, and my wife's parents. It's a bit chaotic, and I'm not even remotely in charge of our schedule. :) We're flying back home this weekend, and any uncertainty in my posting schedule will be due to my faulty personality instead of factors beyond my control. I prefer Google Drive! I can do Roll20, but I think Google is simpler and the right tool for PbP campaigns. One request: I think it's bettr to have the maps and other files hosted on Google Slides or Google Docs, but not Google Drawings if that's a consideration. Drawings does not work well on mobile sites, and there's not a separate app for it like there is for Docs and Slides. Finally, an anecdote: when I first created this PC, the GM hand-picked the classes, and this (non-gestalt) inquisitor was the party's trap finder. When us players pointed out that inquisitors don't have trapfinding, the GM revealed that their intent was that I take a trait specific to the Mummy's Mask AP that grants trapfinding as a rogue. Again, this is just an anecdote, and it seems like this party's trap-finding is sorted out, but I would have offered to pick up that trait again if needed. Looking forward to getting started!
Gonna get the crunch down later today, but my idea for the bloodrager dwarf is that he was born from a family of renowned dragon hunters, only for this individual to grow scales, blue colored beard and golden eyes. When they found out one of their ancestors who slayed Kazavon must have had his bloodline tainted by the dragon’s magic, they abandoned the boy thinking him a curse. So he dedicated his life to perfecting his dragon skills, renaming himself Kazasun (Kazavon’s son) with the goal of reversing all the damage Kazavon did in his life. That’s a really solid backstory. Very nice!
Hi, this is Andostre's submission! I made this in Hero Lab by making a standard Inquisitor and then overwriting or adding the relevant Fighter specs, which was a pretty easy process. Even though most of an Inquisitor's spells list comes from non-Core sources, I'm pretty satisfied with the Core only spell selection I made. At level 4, I don't have a lot of spells to worry about, especially since I'm focusing on melee flanking and skills. About me (Andostre, not Kaalul): I've been playing PbPs on this board for a while, and I like to think I understand what a player's role is in helping a PbP keep momentum. Silence or waiting on someone else to speak/suggest an action can be a death knell for a PbP campaign. If selected, I apologize to the other PCs in advance for Kaalul's grumpy paranoia.
I had fun. I hope Fizz wasn't too much. I had this whole conversation planned out in my head for if Fizz ever asked Kaalul why he wouldn't call him by his name. K: I'be told you before, Gnome, I haven't managed to grasp your difficult gnomish dialect. F: Come on, it's not that hard! Repeat after me: 'Fizz' K: Fizz F: 'Bin' K: Bin F: 'Er' K: Er F: 'Fizzbinner! K: Forzbriner F: ... K: Fistnibber F: ... K: Frizznorber
Kaalul seems ready to respond to Fizzbinner, but he closes his mouth and nods briefly before turning back to the Forge. "It's not truly a forge of creation, but it's ties to the earth's depths are still of significance to Torag's Children. I will take the wizards' notes and the Forge's location back to my clergy. You may make copies of the notes, if you wish. "I am ready to leave."
Yes, thanks! I enjoyed the short format.
Fizz sits down cross-legged with a sad look as he removes his hat. "'Tis a shame.." "What's a shame, Gnome?"
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