Went ahead and got another post up. Is a lot more work writing up that long of a post than simply rolling up an attack and describing what you do... =)
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The goblin, flanked on all sides by big folk with weapons, turns and flees... right off the side of the ship, plummeting into the water below. Serik manages to dispatch one of the goblins as it boards the ship, and then follows up by skewering another, leaving just one living goblin left on the ship, one which is so badly injured as to just barely be standing. Lissa's arrow hits the goblin chief squarely, and he's now looking quite bloodied. Selena's acid is indeed eating away at the canoes, but it might take half a dozen such shots to make the canoes sink. They seem far more durable than one might expect goblins to construct on their own.
The goblins don't yet seem daunted by their complete failure to establish a foothold aboard the ship, but neither do they seem able to organize enough to get aboard more swiftly, with only two making it aboard this round. Assuming they are not slain by attacks of opportunity, one of the two goblins manages to hit Serik with a terbutje for 3 points of damage. The injured goblin decides to flee, just as its companion did under the influence of Donovan's magic, and jumps overboard with a splash. The goblin warchief, meanwhile, begins casting a spell of his own, attempting to daze Lissa.
With Captain Highbridge having arrived with armed sailors, the more lightly armed sailors withdraw to give room for the sailors armed with swords and spears. He seems surprised that there are so few living goblins aboard, "Well done keeping them repelled! Their morale should break soon enough!" His sailors manage to dispatch one goblin and wound another, leaving just one wounded goblin aboard the ship.
Sorry for my absence the past couple days, been ridiculously swamped with work and just passed out when I got home each day.
Selena: I thought the acid splash was for this round, and you cast mage armor last round? Did I have that wrong? Donovan: The goblins are very specific. In fact, each and every one of them has a name, personality, back story, and motivations!
Lissa's arrow flies true, hitting the goblin warchief in the upper arm, causing him to yelp loudly and then begin lacing his chants with particularly foul profanities. Serik then stabs the lone living goblin on deck, but it's not a grievous enough wound to put it down.
Three more goblins climb aboard this round and begin attacking.
One of the goblins which just climbed over the rail of the ship manages to catch a sailor right in the chest with its nasty-looking club, the bits of glass leaving deep gashes. The goblin that survived the first round attacks and misses Donovan, but directs one of the others to help him, still believing Donovan to the chief. The second is luckier and manages to hit Donovan for three (3) points of damage.
The two sailors close enough to attack both get in lucky hits, and one of the goblins is staggered, barely able to remain standing. Behind you, Captain Highbridge emerges from the ship's hold with several other sailors, now armed with swords and spears with which to assist in repelling the goblins. (starting next round)
Unfortunately, it seems that the little bugger is just too slippery for Donovan to hit with the long, unwieldy spear. Similarly, the chaotic mess of goblins down in the canoes makes it seem impossible to miss, and yet Milva's arrow soars right between a pair of goblins to embed in the side of a canoe, harmlessly.
Just want to say that yes, there's an awful lot of goblins, but right now there's a bottleneck preventing them from entering combat, and you have aid from the sailors, so this should (based on number crunching) be a well-balanced encounter that's actually extremely in your favor. (Especially since none of them have ranged weapons.)
There's quite a few of the buggers, nearly two dozen in all spread across four canoes, counting the apparent warchief, who Lissa unfortunately has no more luck hitting than Milva. The goblins have a healthy enough fear of drowning that only one from each canoe attempts to climb aboard each round.
Only two of the goblins manage to make their way up the slippery outer hull of the Wandering Star so far, the others losing their hold and falling back into their canoes.
Luckily, the filthy little creatures don't manage to hit anyone with their clubs, which are embedded with jagged pieces of obsidian, shark teeth, and other sharp bits. One had swung for a sailor, who just barely dodged out of the way, and one swings at Donovan, screaming in Goblin. What the goblin said (in Goblin):
"I found the chief!"
There are two sailors close enough to attack the two goblins with cudgels, and one manages to knock a goblin cold with a solid hit to its oversized head, punctuated by the sound of its skull cracking. There's still one goblin on deck however (and you gain flanking bonuses against it in melee) and another twenty two down in the canoes.
The two rounds were until the canoes were close enough for the goblins to attempt boarding, so the goblins will begin attempting to board this round.
Serik's first arrow manages to glance across the exposed shoulder of the goblin leader, drawing first blood in the conflict, but accomplishing little else. He begins chanting loudly in Goblin, dancing up and down and pointing at the Wandering Star, which seems to inspire the other goblins. Serik's second arrow misses entirely, as do both of Milva's arrows, as he's much more cautious after being nicked by Serik. Half a dozen sailors armed with cudgels join Donovan in preparing to repel any goblins who should attempt to climb on board, while Captain Highbridge leads a contingent into the ship's armory for proper swords. Selena's efforts, unfortunately, yield no great success, as the canoes are too sturdy to be easily sunk by a small splash of magical acid.
Almost everyone has heard of the goblins infesting the shores of Varisia, but not even Milva has heard of goblins having the patience needed to craft boats that were actually seaworthy, let alone to then coordinate attacks on ships. Yet there can be little doubt as to what you're seeing, and now that the crew of the Wandering Star has been alerted, the sailors start arming themselves as Captain Highbridge calls out orders to prepare to repel boarders. Selena is late to reach the deck of the ship, but the rest of you have the option to start attacking the goblins immediately, before the five war canoes are close enough for them to attempt to climb aboard. Between the speed of the Wandering Star and the speed of the boats, they're getting closer at a rate of about 100 feet per round, so you have two rounds to react, and a held action on the first round will still occur at a range of 100 feet.
Serik: You not only identify the incoming boats as carrying goblins, but manage to spot with your keen eyes that one of the goblins seems to be acting as a war chief, animatedly giving orders to the others, and is wearing an elaborate red headdress with curving horns, large painted eyes, and a protruding snout that vaguely suggests the shape of a dragon's head.
In Umbrea's defence, the ship was just overhauled and refitted before this voyage, so there likely aren't many rats to catch, and they'd be the adventurous sort rather than the lazy, easy-to-catch sort. Since you seem interested, Captain Highbridge does his best to explain during a delicious luncheon of salted pretzels, fried mackerel, and candied fruit on skewers. "I don't rightly know the whole story, and there's so many rumors I can't even say that what I know is entirely right, but Aureusa showed up soon after the earthquake, and I guess she'd been sleeping for countless ages since the time of Thassilon. She'd been about to start gobbling up dockworkers when Lady Sorshen herself flew out to her and started speaking in some strange language. Thassilonian, I guess. She's ambushed two ships so far, pirates from Riddleport, both of them, ate everyone aboard and then made kindling of the ships." He shudders at the mere thought of such a destructive power, "I don't know what Sorshen's holding over her head, but I'm damned glad she's cowed into not eating us." There's nothing else of special note that day as the ship pulls further out into the vast Varisian Gulf, tacking north in the general direction of the Wheel of Gruankus, though islands can be seen on the western horizon as the Wandering Star follows the chain of islands marking the western edge of the Gulf. Selena is able to spend most of the day studying Pavo Quink's scroll, but makes little more headway than noting that nowhere does any sequence of runes longer than three seem to repeat, and that's too short for any but the simplest of words. The next morning, the sky remains quite clear, but a cry rings out shortly after lunch as the lookout spots a number of crude boats launching from a nearby island, rowing hard on an intercept course. Perception - DC 18: A keen eye will be able to see that the boats are crewed by goblins, a fact that the lookout has not yet noticed.
Sorry, will post something tonight. Been ridiculously busy, and just logging in for a few minutes during a rather late lunch break. Selena won't have had any luck per se, but that doesn't mean no progress was made. (I use the 'multiple successes to achieve objective' method for some particularly difficult feats of prowess.)
If someone were to go ahead and carry forward with this, I would definitely want to focus heavily on roleplaying, and it might not be a bad idea to let players roleplay as several different characters, allowing more interaction by representing not only the actions of the ruler, but also their ambassador(s), general(s), etc. Would be interested in how to handle activities during the other three weeks each month too. (Would we go exploring and fight monsters in order to claim more land and level up?)
In order: Nanatsusaya = Seven-bladed sword. Nana = Seven. Therefore, it's a perfectly reasonable nickname. Yes, that would actually be reasonable for people who would have been in Magnimar during the events in question, or who work in the shipping business there, although she's still rather mysterious to most, and there's a lot of false information out there, and I don't really feel like feeding you all a bunch of red herrings based on false information just yet. (Suffice to say that there's plenty of people who believe Sorshen intends to use Aureusa to conquer Magnimar, or that the scylla is secretly preying on drunk sailors, or that she's eating all the fish. In truth, she'd rather eat sharks, which ought to lead to more fish, not fewer.) The following is an excerpt from the retraining rules in Ultimate Campaign:
I interpret this to mean that, if you have an Int score of 12, you can spend 40 days of training to gain 2 bonus languages above and beyond those you received for your race, high Int, and Linguistics score. It may be a little while before there's a full 20 days of downtime, but hopefully not more than 2-3 months of ingame time before that's a realistic option. We'll see though!
Val grins and returns Milva's toast, then pats the rail of the ship, "They don't wanna lose out on a good thing, and the first Magnimarian Navy's gonna be big. Highbridge would throw 'em in the brig iffen they tried something, and then right into the Hells when we got back. They'll prolly do a fair job holding their tongues at least, but maybe the cap'n will be able to fix their heads an' get 'em screwed on right." Down in the ship's mess hall, Pavo shrugs and says, "Just take good care of them and bring them back up before the captain calls for luncheon. Don't want soup getting all over the copy, you know?" The sound of howling fills the air, easily heard even in the ship's hold, as the wolf heads encircling Aureausa's waist all open their maws to howl, even as the creature declares angrily, "Sorshen is fickle, her protection will not save you from my wrath forever, little man." She then slips back under the water, her indistinct form retreating back towards the Irespan. Knowledge (local) - DC 10: The Hells:
'The Hells' is the colloquial name for Magnimar's prison for criminals accused of especially heinous crimes, such as murder and treason. It is a dungeon cut into the bedrock under the Pediment Building where the Justice Court meets, and has a particularly unsavory reputation, even beyond the borders of Varisia. Knowledge (local) - DC 15: Aureusa:
The creature known as Aureusa first appeared in Magnimar during the events of the Sihedron Incident, woken by the earthquake and initially intent on preying upon the citizens of the city. Runelord Sorshen arrived upon an agreement of some sort with the monster, however, who has instead been preying on pirates unwise enough to come within sight of Magnimar. Selena: It would take at least eight hours of study to make an attempt at deciphering the purpose of the wheel, and you'd take a penalty for using a transcription of a transcription, originally penned by someone who couldn't even read Thassilonian. Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraft could both be useful, as might Linguistics. Pavo has already devoted a great deal of time to studying the runes, but is quite aware that the actual artifact would be easier to study.
As soon as Serik and his two Shoanti hired hands make it to the ship, Captain Highbridge orders the gangplank raised, then signals the pier workers to release the mooring lines. Once freed, the Wandering Star's sails unfurl, catching in the breeze to start carrying the ship out of the harbour, swinging well around the Irespan to avoid one of the ancient pilings hidden just beneath the waves. The spot Val pointed out for Milva offers a great vantage point for watching Magnimar and also seeing which way the ship is headed, and she joins the half-orc once her duties helping with casting off are all done with. "I'd like to 'pologize for 'em, but that won't rightly stop 'em, even though it's unfair. I mean, my da was as 'orrible as any orc I've ever heard of, and nobody holds that against me." She holds out an apple, "Besides, they all get to stay on the ship, and you're going to be doing all the really dangerous stuff." Down in the ship's hold, Pavo shakes his head and sighs at Donovan's question, "Sadly, no, we've neither of us any skill with the arcane arts. To be honest though, I suspect that is part of why the Council acquiesced to m- our request. There have been other interested parties, but they likely suspect a spellcaster could not only decipher the Wheel, but also activate it. Consider, if you will, the likelihood that such a massive artifact, located on the border between two realms, would have a peaceful purpose." He shakes his head again, "No, it probably has some sort of dangerous, destructive, or at the very least disruptive purpose." Grinning at Selena's suggestion, he says, "One of the theories Magnus put forward was that the artifact was used for summoning demons and other creatures from beyond the mortal realm, and that the user would select runes as appropriate to generate a sort of automatic binding that could incorporate the origin of the creature being summoned and perhaps even their True Name. I hope for something less nefarious, but even if he is correct... could not angels be summoned in much the same way?" As the ship makes its way out into the Varisian Bay, those who remain above decks are likely to notice a beautiful woman rising up out of the water to starboard, easily keeping pace with the ship. Nearly every sailor aboard makes a warding gesture or utters a short prayer, as she rises even further out, revealing that, where her waist should be are snarling wolf's heads arrayed in a circle. Beneath the waves, one can make out long, massive tentacles where one might expect her legs to be. Captain Highbridge angrily shakes a fist at the creature, "Begone, Aureusa! We're flying the flag of Magnimar!"
Mutiny you say? Hmmmnn... nah. XD Technically there's always mind control, teleportation, etc, but since none of you have access to that stuff, I figured I had all my bases covered in case any of you decided to go off track before arriving at the designated sandbox.
Sorry everyone, spent almost the whole weekend working on a project to demo on Monday. (And oh hey, look, it's already Monday, technically!) Exhausted and mentally drained right now, but at least I'm not expected to show up at work in the morning. (My boss is handling the demo.) I'll get a post up today, but expect it to include the Wandering Star finally setting sail, so if anyone has any last minute details to attend to before the only way back to Magnimar is swimming or mutiny, now is the time for it.
What are your thoughts on a Awakened T-Rex Vampire? And now I am imagining a timeless love between a Vampire and an Awakened T-Rex, who go rampaging through Golarion as their honeymoon.
Serik:
Her stony expression shows no sign of recognizing the name of the strange Thassilonian artifact, but you notice her pupils dilate when the Shadde-Quah are mentioned, and she swallows before replying, "We shall do our best." She glances at her far less talkative companion, who shrugs and turns back toward the room they came from. Both Shoanti vanish into the back for less than a minute, and then re-emerge with packs slung over their shoulders and each now armed. Naljah is carrying a massive earthbreaker, whereas Krogev favors a broadsword of odd design kept in a primitive scabbard.
Krogev grunts a simple, "Ready." and the two follow you to the ship, which is just waiting for you to board before casting off. The party which was meeting with Luma Derexhi after you has already boarded their ship, and it too is getting ready to depart. Pavo grins and lets you all look as long as you like, "Don't worry about this too much, I brought this along mostly so I could compare it to the actual Wheel. I suspect there were some transcription errors and inaccuracies, and, well..." He unfurls the second of the two scrolls he brought along from his cabin, "This is a transcription of various runes, with each set having a reference number to a region on the Wheel, but I don't think it was meant to be read the way someone would Taldane from a book. The artifact radiates magic, and it's huge. I think that you have to activate it in order to read it properly, perhaps certain runes will glow, spelling out something sensible. As it is, this is all gibberish. It doesn't even form proper words most of the time." He takes a deep breath and then addresses Donovan, "So, yes, I do intend to do some excavation, but I don't expect to need to look at the bottom of the Wheel. The amount of digging necessary should be a rather simple matter, I mean, we're provisioned for at least a full month, so there's no special hurry to be returning to Magnimar, and I was led to believe that you'd be doing some scouting around the area while we excavate and inspect the site in addition to your duties as guards?" Above decks, there are a couple sailors on the crew who make warding signs when they see Milva and pointedly avoid her, but nobody seems overtly hostile, and Captain Highbridge's cabin girl, Val, cheerfully suggests a location near the prow of the ship, accessed by climbing a ladder to cross over the roof of the Quink's cabin.
Not at all. I've long said that anyone who buys an AP or adventure and does nothing other than read it is getting their money's worth from the volume. Making an adventure enjoyable to simply read is one of the most important parts of my job, and one of the core goals of our books. They certainly are enjoyable to read, and they're great for campaign design too, especially for people who really want to make their own campaign, but don't want to have to come up with completely unique ideas for every element of the campaign. "I'll use this dungeon from this AP, and this castle from this other AP, and ooh, this NPC from this old AP would fit in perfectly!" Most especially though, I love just sitting down and imagining entire campaigns based on the 'concluding the adventure' summaries at the end. Spoiler: For example, running a Kingmaker campaign where hordes of demons come spilling in from the Worldwound after the failure of the mythic heroes, resulting in a very different direction/'final boss' than Kingmaker as written. Or Shattered Star set after Runelord Karzoug defeats the adventurers and begins a conquest of Varisia, such that the players are reassembling the Sihedron as a weapon to use against him. Maybe Kaer Maga is under siege when they arrive there, and getting to Guiltspur means sneaking past his armies of giants, with the climax occurring as Magnimar is invaded!
Serik:
"If you're hiring the both of them, I'll need 28 shields as a deposit against their wages, the remainder to be paid in full when you return." The woman behind the counter produces a little hand-written pamphlet and hands it over, "This is all of our policies, make sure you're familiar with them, it even covers burial customs should that come up."
The female Shoanti, who must be Naljah unless they somehow both have names which are mismatched for their apparent sex, pounds her chest with her fist and asks in Shoanti, "We are always ready. Where are we going? Wishing to see the great naked whore overlooking the ocean?" Pavo smiles while shaking each of your hands, looking quite excited about the prospect of the upcoming journey. He seems about to answer Donovan's question, but looks rather taken aback when Lissa says 'she', "'She'? You mean you weren't briefed by Lord Derexhi himself? But..." He presses one hand to the side of his head while holding up the other and waving it back and forth, "No, don't fill me in, more stupid politics, I'm sure. But Gods, where even to start? Here, let me fetch a few things and we'll head below deck to stay out of the way of the sailors while they get ready to cast off." He vanishes back inside his cabin and then re-emerges with a couple of scrolls, "These are copies I made so that the librarian wouldn't kill me, raise me from the dead, and then kill me again should anything have happened to the original, which is safely staying behind." He then leads the way down the steps past the two cabins you were all assigned to, past the ship's galley, where a halfling woman seems to be busy mixing up dough in a large bowl. She cheerfully smiles in the direction of the party as you pass by, Pavo leading you to what must serve as the ship's mess hall, though the table isn't really large enough to accommodate more than six or perhaps eight people. He then unfurls one of the scrolls on the table, holding it down to show a detailed drawing of a large disc, half-submerged in the ground, covered it tiny little runes, with various sections marked with reference numbers, "The disc itself is supposed to be huge, something like a few hundred feet across, but most of the runes are large too, and even though they're Thassilonian, the translation is nonsense."
Sorry about yesterday, had a terrible allergy-headache when I got home and just didn't feel up to posting. Will put up a post when in a couple hours or so after dinner.
Edit: Nevermind, it's been fixed!
Serik:
"Most of our guides are Shoanti, Master Serik, but... the Wheel of Gruankus?" Her expression is not one of recognition, and she seems disturbed to not be immediately recalling a named local site, "Well, at any rate, it is four shields per day to hire a guide. May I inquire why you might need more than one guide? Is it a very large group you wish to take on your tour?" She then calls out, "Krogev! Naljah! Customer!" and two Shoanti emerge through a door leading to a back room, and you can hear the din of several more people talking back there. Both are bald and heavily tattooed, and even the woman stands as tall as you, the man a couple inches taller.
There's nothing like an armoire, but looking under the bunks reveals some simple trunks locked into place to keep from sliding around on the floor when the ship is at sea. It might take a moment to puzzle out how to unlock them and pull them out, but it's a simple enough matter with no key required, and each trunk can easily hold the contents of a large backpack. As Donovan knocks on the door of the fore cabin, the sound of wood against wood can be heard and a voice calls out, "Yes, just a minute." A few moments later the door is opened, revealing a human in his late twenties or early thirties, smartly dressed in the latest Magnimarian fashion, wearing spectacles and a simple cap which covers most of his prematurely greying hair. Beyond him, you can see a much more nicely appointed room, complete with a table, chairs, a lush Keleshite carpet, and even a painting hanging on the far wall. His gaze was initially somewhat downcast, so he notices Lissa first before looking up to meet Donovan's gaze, "Yes? Oh! You must be the adventurers the Council hired to keep me and Magnus safe." He extends an ink-stained hand to each member of the party to have arrived at his door in turn, "Pavo Quink. I'd introduce you to Magnus, but he's taking a nap at the moment, and nothing shy of a bucket of water will rouse him from sleep. Lord Derexhi filled you in on everything, yes?"
Serik:
Arriving in the Bazaar of Sails, you ask around at a few stalls and luck seems to be on your side, as you are quickly directed to a small shop with an actual storefront on the outskirts of the Bazaar. The sign out front reads 'Guided Tours of Varisia' and there's a rough painting of the area surrounding Magnimar, with a number of nearby monuments shown at exaggerated scale, such as the Lady's Light. Inside, you find not a Shoanti, but rather a young Varisian woman with long black hair, sitting behind a counter and playing some form of solitaire with a deck of Harrow cards. "Ah! Greetings, stranger! Interested in trying your luck exploring the Irespan or hoping to see the Lady's Light up close?" Luma shrugs at Donovan's final question and answers, "No more than a few days at most." She then begins calling the next group, making it quite clear that you've all been dismissed. The Wandering Star is easy to pick out, since the furthest of the three schooners has already retracted its gangplank and is busy unfurling its sails, narrowing the choice down to two, and their names have been freshly painted on. The ship seems to already be fully loaded, so the sailors are mostly busying about tying things down and making sure the ship is ready to set sail. At first, there seems to be no sign of the captain, but an aged halfling with an overly elaborate hat emerges from the aft once you all start boarding to welcome you. He speaks in a jovial tone and is particularly animated, throwing wide gesticulations, "Ah! The adventurers! Excellent! I'm Captain Highbridge, and I'm sure we'll have plenty to discuss over luncheon once we're at sea. The Misters Quink are already situated in the fore cabin, but we have a pair of nice cabins with bunks for all of you. down below the aft cabin, they only have portholes, not proper windows, but everything's still perfectly fresh, and the paint's barely done drying." He puts two fingers to his mouth and whistles, a young human girl who is already taller than him appearing, "Val, show the adventurers to their quarters and make sure they know where everything is." Young Val bows and then says casually, "Um, alright, this way..." The rooms are situated across from each other down a narrow set of stairs, but are actually quite nicely appointed, if a bit small for being shared with so many, though there's actually bunks for four people in each of the two rooms, which would be even more crowded by far.
It was a good idea. Especially for most of the Improved Familiars, which I'm always fond of, since there's not as many bbcodes here for making it clear who is talking at any given moment. (Such as representing your PC's speech in red and your familiar's speech in blue. Was going to say 'green', but that wouldn't be fair to those with red/green color-blindness.)
"Bah!" Luma waves a hand dismissively, "Look, I read over the old report from when the treaty with Riddleport was signed and none of the local Shoanti even showed up. For all we know, the site is actually taboo and they won't go anywhere near it, which means you've got a perfectly safe spot to retreat to if things go bad. Well, safe from the Shoanti, at any rate." She sighs and looks out at the pier, "If it's really that big of a deal to you though, I'm sure the ship can wait an extra hour before departing. The tides might not be ideal if you take much longer than that, but you can find just about anything over at the Bazaar." She leans back in her chair and says, "Whatever you pick though, it's really none of my concern. You're going to be paid a thousand sails when you get back, and you could hire a whole company of Shoanti for a month with that much. You're a Vanderale, figure something out, but don't expect an advance, because I'm not authorized for that." Luma then scans the next set of documents to see who she needs to call next, since there don't seem to be any other questions now. Selena's Knowledge(History) Check: The history of the Shoanti is one of a prideful people who have been pushed back time and again, spending countless centuries at war with the orc warriors of Belkzen to the east and human settlers from Cheliax to the south. Most tribes have decent relations with the ethnic Varisians, but orcs and Cheliaxians are about as welcome in the camps of the Shoanti as goblins in a fireworks store.
Donovan's Knowledge(Religion) Check: All you can really recall is that the Shoanti are animistic nature worshippers led in worship by shamans, and that different tribes have different sacred totems.
Going to give Milva a chance to react before moving along to the ship, but I posted to give everyone a bit more time for Q&A before heading out.
Luma is about to answer when Selena interjects, and waits for the young wizard to finish before adding, "So far as I know, it was named before anyone got around to actually translating Thassilonian into Taldane, so the name is probably meaningless gibberish. Feel free to ask the archaeologists, they should already be settled in aboard the Wandering Star, man by the name of Pavo Quink and his partner, husband, something like that." She gesticulates to indicate she doesn't really care about the exact relationship or even what the other man's actual name is. Grinning in an almost predatory manner, Luma nods as Serik suddenly realizes just exactly where the party is being dispatched to, "Like I said, it could easily end up being the most difficult assignment handed out today. That's why, when I saw that a member of the esteemed House Vanderale had signed up, I just knew that this was the right task for you. Your family has been in the mercantile business since before your grandfather was born, and you've got what, a dozen ships? Make a deal! Or just do your best to avoid them and hope they don't regard the Wheel as some sort of holy site." She waits for Donovan to add a comment of his own, then says, "Exactly. Between the two of you, you should be able to charm the pants off of any Shadde-Quah you run into." She pauses, her expression turning introspective as she thinks for a moment, "If they even wear pants, that is."
Can I take over Riddleport, cause it's prime real-estate that just needs better management. Just saying. xP Not sure if you're serious or not, but that certainly would be an option, though I wouldn't recommend attempting it at level 1.
Initially offering a friendly smile as she recognizes the young scion of House Vanderale, Luma's expression turns to bemusement at the sight of the cooked rat that Milva had been storing in a pouch. Once all five of you have stepped forward and identified yourselves, she takes a deep breath to center herself, "This is probably either the easiest or most difficult assignment we're handing out today, depending on your luck. The five of you are being assigned to ship out aboard the Wandering Star with a pair of archaeologists who want to take a better look at the massive Thassilonian artifact called the Wheel of Gruankus." She rolls her eyes after saying the name and shrugs, "It's a weird name, but the scholars named it, not me. Anyway, the thing is about as out in the open as the Irespan or Cyphergate, but I guess they want to dig up the portions that are buried and take a better look, and the Council of Ushers approved. You lot are going to make sure they're not slaughtered by goblins and to survey the area. There could be other ruins nearby, and it's far enough from Riddleport that we'd like to establish a settlement there." She lifts her sickle to fetch out the top five documents, quickly scanning them to make sure she has the right ones, "If you forget anything, these list everything we need surveyed, but the damned scribe put everything in alphabetical order. The number one priority is fresh water. Streams, rivers, lakes, whatever you can find. If there's no herds of deer, elk, or other game in the area, we'll just bring some livestock along with us, but shipping water clear across the Gulf is out of the question." She looks down along the list again, then snickers, "Ah, and just so we're clear, yes, you can keep anything you seize off any goblins, orcs, or other unsavory types you encounter, but that's superseded by the requirement to hand over Thassilonian artifacts. Just because a goblin was toting around the enchanted burial shroud of a Runelord doesn't mean you get to keep it. Lastly, the gold you'll receive when you get back is per person. You don't get extra if someone doesn't return, so don't go killing each other off on the way back." The way she says this seems to imply that she or someone in her family has had experience with mercenaries doing just exactly that. The documents are all more or less identical aside from specifying your name, presumably so somebody else doesn't try to claim the commission once the expedition is ready to return to Magnimar. Luma patiently waits for you to each have a chance to quickly read the document and ask any questions you may have. Charter from the Council of Ushers:
Be it so known that <your character's name> has been vested with authority by the Council of Ushers of Magnimar to carry out excavation, exploration, and surveying in the wilderness region surrounding the site of the Thassilonian artifact known as the Wheel of Gruankus.
The carrier of this charter has been empowered to negotiate with any local inhabitants on behalf of the Council of Ushers for purposes of gaining access to Thassilonian ruins, and may offer limited grants of land or title within the same wilderness area as compensation, to be issued when settlement commences.
In exchange for the commission of no less that one thousand gold sails, the carrier of this charter is required to faithfully survey all parts of the peninsula upon which the Wheel of Gruankus is located which lie to the south and east of the Calphiak Mountains. This survey is to include at minimum a detailed description of local reserves of the following: deer, elk, fresh water, mineral deposits, open fields, timber, and waterfowl, as well as detailed maps of the inland area. Furthermore, any Thassilonian artifacts discovered are to be delivered to the Council of Ushers for study, and may be returned at discretion of the Council after examination. So witnessed on this 8th day of Pharast, under authority of the Council of Ushers of Magnimar. <signatures of the scribe and Lord Randred Derexhi>
Knowledge Geography/History DC 14: Wheel of Gruankus: Located on the far side of the Varisian Gulf from Magnimar, and separated from Riddleport by a large bay and the Calphiak Mountains, Gruankus was chosen as the site for the signing of the treaty between Magnimar and Riddleport nearly a century ago when Magnimar was still a new settlement. Half-buried in the sands along the shore, the massive monument seems to be made of the same resilient stone-like material as the Cyphergate, but what purpose it may have served is unknown, despite all the Thassilonian runes covering the visible surfaces.
Hi there! Glad to see everyone's here now. With regards to Magnimar, don't worry too much that you're leaving immediately, there will be plenty of opportunities to return, and even if you found a new little settlement of your own, Magnimar will keep playing a major role in the campaign. (Unless, of course, you all decide to go do something crazy and build a ship to set sail for Arcadia.)
We have an IC thread now! You're all welcome to go ahead and post your initial reactions before receiving your official assignment.
Magnimar
The sky is overcast today, with the sun hiding behind the clouds, but it has remained dry so far this morning, while a northward breeze promises quick sailing across the Varisian Gulf. The Council of Ushers has been provisioning three ships to dispatch to various parts of Varisia, double-masted schooners which the Magnimarian government claimed after being abandoned following the Sihedron Incident. Normally such ships would be auctioned off, but the Council of Ushers instead emptied the ships out, used the proceeds from selling off their abandoned cargo to refit them, and they now all fly the blue and white flags of Magnimar. The ships are all docked at the impound yard down in the Dockway District, as the piers there are all owned by the city government rather than private interests, and all adventurers who signed up to join the expeditions have been asked to meed at the impound yard this morning. As each adventurer arrives, they are directed to a table where a half-elven woman in her early thirties dressed in finely tailored clothing is seated with a large stack of documents, flanked on both sides by city guards who look a bit uneasy about their assignment. She offers simple greetings, but asks for everyone to be patient until most of the prospective adventurers have arrived. Once at least thirty people have gathered, the woman stands up to address the crowd, "Hmm, looks like we have enough of a crowd to get started then. For those of you I've not met before, I am Luma Derexhi, and I've been volunteered as the Magnimarian liaison for all the various expeditions the Council of Ushers is chartering. About half of you will be boarding ships in a short while, and then the other half will accompany me to the stables, as you'll be heading inland and will need horses." She gestures to the large stack of documents on her table, weighed down by a finely crafted sickle that looks made for combat rather than harvesting, "I have here your assignments, and will begin by calling you up according to the expedition you have been assigned to. If you lose your copy, don't fret over-much, as there are copies at the Usher's Hall, so we will still be able to pay you upon completion of your assignment." Luma takes her seat again and begins calling names, starting with a group who will apparently be dispatched to the ruins of Brinewall, far to the north. You are the second group to be called, once she dismisses the first group to go board their assigned ship. "Donovan Dyne, Selena Starmantle, Serik Vanderale, Lissa Wintrish, and Milva?" Dockway:
The seaside district of Dockway stretches along the shore southwest of the towering edifice of the Irespan. The Bazaar of Sails is one of Dockway's primary draws aside from the piers themselves, as it is the largest free market in all of Varisia and draws traders from as far away as Osirion and Qadira. One can also find various brothels and taverns in the district, catering to sailors and merchants alike, though the area around the impound yard is taken up mostly by warehouses and slightly more respectable looking inns. The impound yard itself contains a large pier which branches off to accommodate far more ships than are currently docked, with several berths set aside specifically for visiting envoys from other nations, none of which are occupied. The three ships requisitioned for the expeditions are mostly loaded at this point, but there are still dockworkers loading bags of grain and barrels of fresh water onto one of the ships, and a few guards stationed on a fourth ship: a large galleon which is missing one of its masts and looking like it has seen far better days. Knowledge Local/Nobility DC 10: Luma Derexhi: Luma is the eldest daughter of Randred Derexhi, who in turn is the head of House Derexhi, which makes its money off of mercenaries and private guards. Luma is a rather scandalous figure both for being illegitimate (her elven mother was a paramour) and for having hunted down and killed her brother in the rival city of Korvosa. While House Derexhi's work with mercenaries makes them an obvious choice to manage the adventurers the city has hired, Luma can hardly be the best representative of that family.
There are five 'cities' in Varisia, although whether Riddleport really counts is contested. The remaining four are Kaer Maga, Korvosa, Magnimar... and the dwarven sky-citadel of Janderhoff. As such, the dwarves are most certainly a major powerhouse in mercantile interests in the region, though most of their trading is done with Kaer Maga and Korvosa, due to the proximity of each compared to Magnimar.
Looks like I slept in a bit. Hi everyone! Since we're all giving some background, I'm a Portland, Oregon native who's been playing RPGs since 1992. I got interested in Pathfinder rather late in the beta, and decided to make the switch over from D&D once the Core Rulebook came out, though I still play other RPGs on occasion. (Exalted & Mutants and Masterminds) I'm a programmer working for a small company out here, so my schedule sometimes gets a bit hectic and erratic, so PbP is a bit of a safer medium than trying to block off 4+ hours. Lissa: My sister's actually out in Chicago for the next year on a job, so I was just out that way helping her get settled into her apartment! Never been able to get her interested in roleplaying games though. Donovan: As Lissa said, Shoanti and Varisian are both common languages in the area, and Varisian would be particularly useful to traders, as the Varisians handle most of the overland trade routes in the area. Though the Ulfen of the Land of the Linnorm Kings to the north speak Skald, there's not any real trade with them via water right now, so most trade is done via Varisian intermediaries. To the south lies Cheliax, and they all speak Taldane (Common), so you'd be going pretty far afield to find another human language. There are major communities of elves and dwarves in Varisia though, so those are both reasonable choices too. Selena: My copy of Chronicle of the Righteous is actually sitting on my desk right now, and it's not like you picked Arshea. I wanted to keep everyone restricted to the hardcovers initially just because there's so VERY many books and I have fewer than half of the softcovers, but I will allow stuff from them on a permission basis once everyone starts leveling up. Also, retraining will be an available option during downtime, using all the rules from Ultimate Campaign. Looks like we're just missing Milva at this point, and I just sent them a PM.
Okay, and we're building for level 2, but our second hit die has to be rolled after we're selected?
The ACG was mentioned, does that mean a half-elven warpriestess of Pharasma would be acceptable? I'm thinking Rostlander and Elven Reflexes for traits.
Okay, time to announce my selections. Was especially hard in a few cases, and I was really tempted to go with 6 and just bump up the difficulty a notch, but in the end I decided to keep the party size to five just to keep things more manageable on my end. The Chosen
The Foreigner
The Pariah
The Scion
The Student
I want to thank everyone for your interest, and wish everyone I couldn't make room for the best of luck finding a game. For the five who were selected, the OOC thread is already up.
Welcome to Wrath of the Runelords! It is my sincere hope that we're all going to have a really fun time here, so please, if you have any additional questions now that you've been selected, need to make any last minute tweaks to your character, or anything else, just let me know! And of course, we're hopefully all in for the long haul, so get to know each other and mingle! I'll be putting up the first IC post tomorrow. (Or 'today' if you live anywhere significantly east of me.)
5pm is here, so I shall start going over all the applications and let you all know later this evening/night!
And I'm not going to rank my personal top 5 APs that would never get made into an AP, because that would give them momentum and would result in some folks clinging to them and crusading for them and that would create, however small, a tiny chance that my saying "This AP is lame and would never be made" might happen anyway. I didn't even consider that, and it's totally true, isn't it? Hmm, different direction then. I loved reading about the Kingmaker game you played in that was set in Iobaria instead of the Stolen Lands. Which three APs do you see as the most 're-skinnable', and what alternative location do you feel would be the most interesting/intriguing way to re-skin them? (The APs are all written superbly, but I find that a re-skin is a great way to use one mostly 'as-written' and still have plenty of surprises for any players at the table who might have read through it or even played it with another GM.)
Spoiler:
Speaking of Nocticula and deities, given her attempt to curry favor in WotR, if Nocticula found herself in bed with say... Iomedae (perfectly innocent sleepover!), and had the opportunity to slay her, do you feel it would be more in-character for her to do so, or to do something such that Iomedae would know that Nocticula could have slain her and chose not to? I suppose that makes a lot of sense. When you mentioned the events in Taldor and your disagreement over whether the nation should be reformed to fit in with other nations or return to their days of conquest and empire, it definitely sounded like one of the two might end up getting made anyway, even if it takes another 5+ years. Are there any stories you would rank in your personal top 5 that would probably never get made into an AP, even if you held onto the creative directorial reins for another 40-50 years? (That you care to share with us, of course, even if only in the broadest of strokes.)
When you say 'all the basic fantasy races', do you mean all the Core races, or are you including goblins, kobolds, orcs, and so on as well? (ie, just excluding the native outsiders and rarer races like catfolk, ratfolk, etc.)
Wrath of the Righteous and stuff:
Ever since reading through Wrath of the Righteous, I've absolutely fallen in love with the concept of the Nahyndrian crystals. What's your opinion on whether there would/could be equivalent items for dead deities, whereby entities could gain mythic ascension by consuming a portion of the essence of a deity, much the way demons in WotR mythically ascend via consuming a portion of the essence of a demon lord? Also, if you had a time bubble that allowed you enough time to write an entire AP without impacting anything else in your ridiculously busy schedule, where would the Valashmai Jungle rank in your list of preferred settings for said AP?
@Nanatsusaya, I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the PM I sent you? Crap, I had read your PM, then forgot to respond to it and went to sleep. The first of the two concepts, as written, would be the acceptable one, as tieflings are a featured race, not a core race.
If it were me, I'd straight up charge build points for the leaders: 1 build point for a level 3 NPC class, 2 build points for a level 3 PC class (using the superior stat array), and maybe something like 3 build points for a level 3 'custom' character with non-core race and 4d6 for stats. That way players are balancing their kingdom's leaders against other stuff they could buy for their kingdom. Just an idea I thought I'd throw in.
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