Matthias Mattimeo's page

I'm sorry to do this guys but I'm having trouble keeping up with play by post. With my baby and new job, it's just hard to find time and motivation. It's been great playing with you guys but I need to drop out. I thought I could resume this game but I really can't. I wish you guys all the best!

Matthias bites his lower lip and nods nervously. "Alright. Can do." He pulls back carefully.

Double move. I think I provoke when passing through Drax's square...

Appraise: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (10) + 10 = 20
K nat: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18

Matthias eyes the gems and helmet with greed in his eyes. Just think how long those artifacts might have been in there! They could give insight into sections of history we've never properly understood he mused. Then he jumps, startled by the crab legs and doesn't manage to identify the crab. Startled, he tries to prepare a spell should the crustacean come up.

Ready action to color spray upon getting a shot at the crab that would include 1 or fewer allies in the aoe.

Matthias raises an eyebrow silently as he is still concentrating on his divination spell.

Does the helmet ping under detect magic? Does seeing it move allow a different knowledge check to ID a creature or something?

Knowledge history: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23 Well that was never very likely to work.

Matthias turns his magic detection spell toward the water with great curiosity.

I don't think Matthias realizes there is a hostile in there yet?

I'm still here.

Matthias moves into the room with curiosity, taking a look himself, a scaly nose poking out of his backpack and confirming what he thinks. Then his eyes flash blue as he searches for any arcane energies.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16

Then detect magic.

Best wishes, Dak!

So sorry to hear that, Dak. Take your time and get better!

Matthias raises an eyebrow and begins trying to detect magic through the door, just to be safe.

Can penetrate up to a foot of stone so can probably detect through the door? Hopefully, it's not lead-lined!

So sorry to hear that, Dak! Get well soon! I hope the road to recovery isn't especially rough...

I'm moving several hundred miles now through Thursday and don't have internet set up at the new apartment yet. So I'll be able to keep up with posts a little bit but less frequently and not as well.

Matthias nods and follows along at the back of the pack. Of course he wanted to read but there was pressing business to attend to.

I'm here whenever it's time but also patient.

Being stumped by the statue, I don't think I have an idea beyond opening the sarcophagi.

Matthias nods hesitantly. "Very well then." He pulls out his notebook, ready to document any other historical oddities they may encounter.

Matthias wrings his hands worriedly seeing the condition of his friends. "I believe Bereket will be able to mend these wounds but it will be slow and take several days!"

Awesome damage roll, Jess!

Matthias snaps his wand at the other shadow, trying to help finish it off.

Magic missile, if it's still alive: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3 Force doing full damage of course.

Desperate to help, Matthias fires again with his wand at the most injured shadow. Then, knees shaking, he moves forward to try to distract the shadows from Jess.

Magic missile: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Huh. I always thought that all positive energy did full damage to incorporeal undead but I see you're right. It specifically calls out channels as doing that.

Matthias yips in fear and rushes over to Shae and tries to keep her up.

Bull's strength. Spending an arcane point to make it +6 str instead of +4.

K rel: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 27

Matthias yips in terror as the shadows manifest and calls out "They'll kill you and turn you into one of them if they drain your strength too much!" He stays exactly where he is and whips out the wand of magic missile and shoots at the shadow attacking Bereket.

Gimme a 4: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Matthias nods brightly. "Yes! Let's read the notes!"

Matthias is also vastly interested in the statue and moves forward to look at it, peering in particular at the title of whatever book the man is holding.

My PhD is in disease ecology and evolution. I work with a fungal parasite that causes deadly epidemics in a small freshwater crustacean pretty widespread through temperate lakes. We don't actually care about the crustacean but it's like a lab rat that lets us test certain factors governing how disease spreads through populations.

And congrats yourself! I think I know what an MBA means but what's an MSIS? How's that work?

Thanks, guys! I'll have to count my things after I defend. ;)

For all my games: My PhD dissertation is due June 30th so I'm working on that a lot. I will try to keep all of my PBP games moving forward but I will undoubtedly be slower than normal.

Matthias chuckles a little bit and whispers to Jess as they leave Nualia's room "'Read to our hearts' content?' I don't think Hollie knows how LONG that would be!"

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11

Matthias nods and follows along, searching carefully.

Detecting magic and appraising. Will roll spellcraft (+12) if it comes up.

Appraise: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19

******** says Bumblebee

Matthias shrugs hopefully. "A week should be long enough. I believe we should continue our investigations at Thistletop immediately, in that case."

Matthias sighs when Jess explains the research situation. "Yes I am loathe to admit it but the references that could prove useful are so minor, obscure, and distributed throughout various texts without any organizational scheme, probably because they are never the intended purpose of each particular text, that it will take a great deal of time, effort, and luck to determine more concrete information on the magical and historical processes we need to know about." He finishes in a rush, out of breath, and blushes a little looking at his feet. His fervor for research made him forget how much he was talking...

He nods when Jess and Hollie mention Thistletop. "Yes hopefully we can deal with that and I can return to the necessary research." He chuckles slightly nervously. "Assuming of course no other urgent matters come up after we deal with Thistletop."

Poor Matthias doesn't know he's an adventurer...

Ok so I've already made my research checks for the 29th or am I deciding what to do for the 29th?

Ok I think I'm wrapping my head around this sub-system. So it seems best to incorporate Nualia's journal into our research materials and keep trying to research the pool, then. I'd ask for Jess's input but I think she's being intentionally hands off to reduce meta-gaming.

Does anybody know of or have a constraint on how many days I spend researching? It seems like it would be a bad idea to just burn through a month or something.

The second day, Matthias tries again to figure out more about the pool, researching carefully in Brodert's library. The Old Light had a truly odd assortment of texts and was not organized around figuring out the arcane nuances of idiosyncratic magical effects but maybe there was something here that could help...

Is that a clear enough declaration?

K arc: 1d20 + 10 + 2 + 4 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 10 + 2 + 4 - 2 + 1 = 22 To quote Buzz Lightyear, "Not today!"

Well it's 50% more tempting because I can make my fox's cunning grant +6 to int instead of +4 but still not worth it. :) Let's do this the old-fashioned way! That's what Matthias and Jess really want the entire campaign to be anyway, IC. XD

My connection to Windsong Abbey can't help here, can it? Because if the research is easier there, I could always go home for a couple days. I doubt it would be better than here since Brodert's library and Sandpoint are pretty helpful.

Matthias very carefully considers all he's learned in Sandpoint and references Brodert's materials very carefully as he tries to come up with any mention he can of such magical pools, their properties, and their past uses. He flips through books, reading rapidly, completely failing to observe the rapid passage of time.

K arcana, fingers crossed: 1d20 + 10 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 10 + 2 + 4 = 27 Well it was a long shot.

Matthias paws through the books carefully then comes up empty and exhausted. He turns to Jess "I'm tired but let's read more tomorrow. What should we research then?"

Could I cast fox's cunning to boost a check like this? The spell only lasts four minutes (or I can make it last 6 if I spend a reservoir poitn) but it could represent a brief focused period of trying to pull everything together from my notes to get an "Ah ha!" moment. Totally a GM call. Perfectly reasonable for you to say "no" to that question.

Quink seems quite helpful so I'll research at the Old Light.

Matthias nods in eager fascination as the gentleman describes his ideas and the facts he has. "Ooh sir I would very much like to hear more about your Thassilonian theories! Especially about the Old Light!"

Matthias is absolutely obsessed about Thassilonian history and even has a trait dedicated to that. So despite the semi-urgency of his research, he would want to hear about that. XD We started with character flaws and his was greed for knowledge. Afterward, he'd research the strange pool in particular among Quink's books.

Matthias stops by the lighthouse to ask the honorable Mr. Quink if he could please spare a few references on black magic, curses, and the like. With these, he eagerly heads back to the catacombs and begins examining the place for any clues as to evil magic conducted here, especially if it could relate to what happened to Tsuto and Nualia.

Detect magic! And idk if I get any books that provide skill bonuses but here are a bunch of potentially-relevant knowledge checks without them. Hopefully detect magic+skills at least get me some idea what do try next? I kind of forgot what all we saw in the Catacombs so hopefully my first investigations can get me some sort of clue.

K arc: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18
K dung: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18
K rel: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 30
K planes: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25
K hist: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16

That all sounds fantastic, Litejedi! I, for one, would love to see you take the helm. Then Dak can focus on reading books and blowing things up.

Yeah securing thistletop seems like a pre-requisite for checking out any nefarious magic there.

Matthias nods eagerly. "Oh yes! More research is required! Who knows? We could maybe even end up breaking or weakening the hold of some curse on Nualia!"

To the sheriff, he speaks up, only stuttering a few times "I believe w... w... we should investigate these matters fully before determining what to do with N... N... Nualia. There may be a m... m... magical interference with her p... p... personality."

Matthias is very surprised as Hollie hugs him and holds still at first. Then he relaxes a little and mumbles "Thanks, Hollie. I'm sad to see one of my oldest friends so damaged and angry." He sniffs back a couple of tears. "But don't beat yourself up. You've been grieving too and that's ok." He hugs her back, his short arms barely reaching to Hollie's back.

Bereket or Shae should definitely take the medallion. False life will last 5 hours (hr/level) for you so you can just do it at the beginning of the adventuring day and assume it lasts the whole time, most adventuring days. Really it would only be an issue if we explored at one place then traveled to another.

Ooh that's nice! I think somebody who goes into melee who wouldn't otherwise be able to cast false life should wear that! Matthias could learn and start casting false life all the time the old-fashioned way if he wanted it badly enough.

I marked a couple things as mine on the loot sheet. I figure some of the minor useful wands and scrolls on the arcane list will help my flexibility some. And I took a couple potions of CMW.

Before Hollie comes:

Matthias chuckles along with Jess. "Yes some deity. I doubt very much he has any clerics or, if he does, they are probably rather disappointed with the powers he grants." He heads into the other room to get another book.

Then Hollie comes.

He walks back in to see Jess and Hollie talking and Hollie even smirking, snickering, and looking playful with Drax. Oh ok good... maybe she's feeling alright then... But Matthias thinks a moment longer. Or not... She wouldn't be goofing off if she were feeling alright, she would still be serious about what happened... Uh oh... she must be trying to hide it. He nods politely, trying to be welcoming and states "Hi Holli. Hi D.. D.. Drax. How are you guys?"

With Jess:

Matthias nods eagerly. This was something he could understand much better than the delicate interpersonal minefield he found himself surrounded by. Not to mention he didn't know what do with his sadness at seeing how far Nualia, one of his oldest friends, had fallen into something horrible and twisted. "Yes, research!" He immediately begins another impromptu race with the equally-short-and-slow Gnome to the nearest collection of texts!

Probably the lighthouse? Here's a k rel check to get started.

Once they begin reading, he reads at a furious pace, skipping from book to book, trying to distract himself from how he is bonding over the love of books and information with Jess, just like he first did with Nualia.

K rel: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (18) + 10 = 28

Matthias visibly relaxes and heaves a giant sigh of relief when they finally get the prisoners off their hands. Being a traveling jailer was stressful for so many reasons. The risks, the unhappy feeling of asserting control over another thinking being, etcetera, etcetera... But when they are finally safe and sound, a tiny reptilian snout pokes out of his backpack. Unconsciously, he reaches over his shoulder and strokes it with a reassuring paw. "There there. Everything's fine. The craziness is over, for a little while." Then when Hollie storms off, his jaw drops. "Oh um... weren't we going to go back there and deal with whatever else was down in that horrible place?"

Wow you guys were busy yesterday!

Matthias rushes over to stand behind Hollie when Nualia, his old friend-turned maniac, falls. "Is she okay!?" he exclaims in concern, then is relieved to find out she's still alive.

When the others talk about taking Nualia back alive, he nods. "Yes we need to do that. She has probably walked too far down this path of hers to come back but we'll do what we can..." The fur under his eyes darkens somewhat as a few tears trickle down. He chokes up a little and stops talking.

Matthias grunts in pain and nervously shouts "Don't ask her that! I don't want to find out right now!"

Will save: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

Magic missile again!: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2 Haha. 3 min damage in a row. The one against the yeth hound actually mattered quite a bit because B would not have been bitten otherwise.

ok cool that's perfect.

Matthias sends a little bolt of force zipping toward Nualia.

Magic missile!: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Question Dak: Does knocking an important npc to, say, -2 hp with lethal damage, kill them? Or can you stabilize/heal them like a pc?

Matthias steps back and pulls out his wand and sends a zap at the horrible yeth hound.

Magic missile: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Or that will go to Nualia if the yeth hound is KOed by B.