Yikes, this is some awful timing. I just finished informing my other group that I will be leaving them due to school starting up full force in the next week. It was fine before, but now I'm getting into the more advanced medical courses, and they will be extremely time consuming. Sadly, that means I must withdraw from this and Adam's game as well. I didn't know you'd also be losing Olo, too. That really sucks. >.<
I had a lot of fun gaming with you guys, and I hope that you will be able to find adequate replacements to continue the game. I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience!
Zahar was quiet most of the day and during the festivities. He scoot his chair over to make room for the extra chair being introduced. "What's your name?", he casually asked the woman as she sat in Zeltor's seat. He pinched a small piece of the pound cake off and offered it to his companion beneath the table. Kasuri lifted her head, sniffed at the cake, and then seemed to lose interest entirely. Zahar shrugged and popped the morsel into his mouth as he awaited an answer from the newcomer.
"I think the room will still be here when we get back. If that bandit has any sense, he won't be."
With that, Zahar and his companion join the others in gathering up whatever else is needed from this room. He assists in carrying Raseri's body as well.
Btw, do you guys want to use burying Raseri as an excuse to go topside and meet Kiley sooner rather than later? That's kinda how I figured it would go down. I don't know if we're going all the way back to town, but the details could be worked out easily. Thoughts?
I was asking if he was dead after taking that much damage, but I forgot about ferocity keeping him up regardless.
Zahar and Kasuri seem too distracted by the recently ended combat and their downed companion to notice anything out of the ordinary. They leave the execution of Jack to the others. The druid kneels next to the crumpled body of the Ulfen girl and determines that she is, in fact, gone. With a gentle sweep of his hand, he closes her eyes. "I think it would be best if we secure the area and then give her remains the proper respect. We owe her that much."
It doesn't contain the Flank trick, thus I did not choose it. I make my characters using this site, so a lot of information can go under the radar. I would have taken the trick if I knew it existed. Would you mind letting me swap out one of her existing ones for it?
Zahar is taken aback by the death of one of his new companions. He knew the risks of coming to this place all too well, but to see it before one's very eyes was sobering, indeed. He didn't have time to grieve. He knew that this bloodshed could only truly end with the death of Tall Jack.
Stranding over the body of his fallen comrade, his anger causes the wild swing of his club to be easily avoided, but Jack would find that Zahar's true strength lies not in his hand-to-hand abilities, but in the ferocity of his bonded companion as she pounced upon the bastard from behind.
Zahar brings his wooden club down hard towards the head of the orc Raseri has just wounded (if it's dead, I'll use that attack/damage roll for his next one and he'll just defend this round instead). Kasuri's assault on the orcs in front of her continues!
@Zeltor - They're 10gp per guard, and we already got the bows for free off the bandits. Even if they don't hit every round, that's still a moderate chance to have some extra damage in the fight on the cheap.
@Everyone - I'm going to be busy this week, so I may not have the time to post. Please feel free to assume that Zahar goes along with any reasonable request or strategy that the group suggests, and don't hesitate to move things along if you don't hear from me within 24 hours.
We're giving them bows, so I'm curious as to how 3 bowmen are going to serve as meatshields. Are we sending our back line in first? They're really just a cheap source of some possible extra ranged damage. Which reminds me..
This time, let's not hang out in the hallway. Let's just burst into the room and get some space to fight in. Zahar is going to prepare Shillelagh and Magic Fang.
Speaking of money, if we haven't spent the cash we got for liquidating the arms and armor we found, would anyone mind if we hired 2-3 guards and let them borrow the armor and weapons instead of selling them right away? We can always get the equipment back once we get back to town if it's a big deal.
If so, I'll post something in-character about hiring them. Otherwise, Zahar just rests and recovers.
I think you can just assume that if your character needs an item from the loot pool during the course of play and nobody has claimed or expressed interest in it, they have it on their person. That makes things simple and fast. We can handle the loot pool in an abstract way and assume that the trivialities of divvying happen "off-screen". Dividing cash can just be an even split after we liquidate whatever junk we have to sell.
Encumbrance isn't strictly tracked in this game, so it can just be assumed that we split the loot evenly so that everyone had a comfortable weight to carry. No need to spend any time worrying about it.
"I think he's capable of walking. He doesn't appear to be significantly injured. If he tries to run, Kasuri will stop him. Won't you?"
He gives the white panther a loving pat, to which she purrs loudly in response.
I don't mind the friction too much, but I'm trying to also remember that this is a dungeon crawl campaign and I need to be a little more relaxed with regards to complicated themes like morality. This is supposed to just be a fun and challenging delve. I'll save the heavy stuff for more appropriately toned games. xD
"I will say that the initial suggestion shocked me, and perhaps that is why my words were so harsh. However, my stance remains the same. I think we should move on."
The spreadsheet looks really good. Thanks, Zeltor!
If I may make a suggestion: Group like items into a single entry. Right now you've got some that are grouped like that (bandits, arrows, quiver), and the rest are given singular entries. This makes your price per unit column misleading (bandits aren't 75 per unit, they're 75 total for all 3). It would save you time and space to just consolidate the entries. :)
"I disagree with your suggestion. While it might be logical to force these creatures to walk ahead of us and spring traps in our place, it would be excessively cruel. I won't be a party to it. Besides, they've given us the information you've just asked already. Perhaps you should be paying more attention to what's going on around you than formulating cowardly strategies."
Zahar gathers up the kobold's discarded weapons and returns them to the cute little guys. Looking to Molasbar and back to the kobolds, he trusts that his words will be translated properly. "Here. You'll need these. Tell your tribe that we saved you and that Dooruk died because he chose snout-stink's tribe. Tell your people that we're friendly, but powerful and not to be crossed." He emphasizes their power by gesturing to the dead that lie upon the ground all around them. "If your tribe asks for the name of the one who spared your life, you can tell them that my name is Zahar."
@Zeltor - Just post it on the campaign Obsidian Portal page: Here
You'll have to make an account and request membership in the campaign, but once there we'll all be able to see it easily.
P.S. - All the stuff Bryce already recorded is there on the "items" tab, so you shouldn't have any trouble merging the lists and having it all complete and up to date. :)
Everyone THINKS I'm 22-25. Apparently I have a young sounding voice, too. I guess I can't really complain about that sort of misconception. xD
I joined a MapTool game through the EnWorld forums about a year and a half ago. It was the 4E version of War of the Burning Sky, and the party was already level 7 when I joined. It was kind of awkward because I was taking the place of a beloved party member who sadly had moved to Japan and could not play at the designated time anymore. Big shoes to fill. I was with them all the way until level 20, playing every Friday from 8pm to midnight (my time). Those were some of the most fun sessions I've ever had, even though I really didn't care much for the story of that particular AP. The DM decided to start publishing his own dice/card games, so that took up all his time and we sadly had to end the campaign before getting a real conclusion.
I know what you mean about being shy, though. The voice chat was handled over Skype, so when I was trying to figure out how to talk as my character, most of the time I just kind of narrated it in third-person rather than trying to actually ACT the part. Sometimes we would all type to each other in-character in the client window during downtimes when the DM was focused on an event we weren't all there for, etc. There was definitely RP, but it was significantly relaxed in comparison to PbP and that was okay with me.
I'd like to get into another game like that, but I've had poor luck finding a compatible group. I've had 3 or so trial-runs where I decided that the people just weren't a good fit for me (aka they were socially challenged weirdos). So I've taken a bit of a break from looking for a while. Maybe one day I'll find a good group. :) It's cool that you got yourself into one! I've never tried Roll20, so maybe I'll have to look into that.
"Well.. I don't speak the tongue of lizardfolk. I suppose I neglected to consider that little detail. Unless someone else is capable of understanding them, I suppose we can let them go. Besides, we do have a member of the aforementioned group in our custody."
If no one else speaks up, Zahar gestures for the kobolds to leave. He even gives them their weapons back -- after all, Rappan Athuk is a dangerous place to be wandering around unarmed.
I'm pretty much an exclusively PbP player. I'd be interested in an online campaign over MapTool or some other medium, but currently I haven't been actively looking for one. That's about as close as I can get to a "real life" game due to my responsibilities.
I'm 30 (nobody ever believes I'm that old, and I still get carded), single, never been married and I have no kids. You'd THINK I'd have a lot of free time, but I'm a full-time medical student and that's pretty much my entire life right now. When I graduate, I won't be any less busy, so playing games online is basically it for me until retirement, I think. Haha.
"I apologize for Kasuri's aggression. She has always been a bit.. excitable."
Kasuri licks her bloody paws, seeming quite pleased with herself.
Zahar approaches the cowering kobolds and kneels beside them so that he may speak to them on their own level.
"Settle down, now. We're not going to harm you further. Would you be so kind as to tell us what you were doing here? I'd like to know more about these humans and their leader, if you can. If you tell us everything you know, we'll allow you to leave."
Zahar takes a moment to regain his composure, and calls Kasuri to his side in the hallway just before she's about to pounce on the unconscious bandit survivor. Rest and refit.
Once he has finally recovered, he gets to his feet and chants a spell which seems to close some of his wounds.
Spell wrote:
Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
-
"What are we going to do with them?", he asks as he re-enters the room.
Yeah, I'm not that keen on being a pirate. Anything that isn't Serpent's Skull would be good for me since I'm already in that AP. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet (9 months in and we're still on the island). I like that my rogue has had a lot to do, but the story is still as much a mystery to me as it was when we first started.
Zahar finally catches his breath and moves out into the relative safety of the hallway. "I trust the rest of you can handle it from here." Meanwhile, Kasuri's beastial instincts are in full effect, and she is unrelenting in her aggressive assault of the bandit.
A lot of people don't seem to like Second Darkness very much. I've never played it, myself, but I see more complaints about it on the boards than praise.
Zahar's wounds threaten to overcome him, and he retreats a short distance to the western wall and kneels behind his oaken shield as he tries to catch his breath. Kasuri continues her assault on the nearest foe.
Zahar winces as he's forced to exert a considerable effort to avoid injury, but finds himself taking the full force of the flames in the process. His subsequent attack meets nothing but the wall behind the quickly ducking kobold in front of him. Kasuri's assault fares slightly better, and though the kobold can fend off some one of her swiping paws, it is ultimately savagely bitten and clawed.
Zahar Club (vs. Green Kobold): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Kasuri's ears perk up and she begins to display an agitated pacing behavior, which Zahar is quick to pick up on. He softly strokes the length of her back and kneels down alongside her, becoming too distracted by the act of placating his companion to discern any specifics about the voices.
I'm actually really interested in a more story-driven game. I come from a long role-playing background, a good deal of which was freeform. I think I feel most comfortable when I'm playing characters that are really fleshed out and detailed. I like to get into it, but sometimes that's a little hard depending on the group/setting/DM/etc. That's probably the reason why I spent so much time on Zahar's backstory, even though it will probably never come up in Rappan Athuk. I just like being creative!
Heroic characters are great because they've all got a tie that binds them: Doing the right thing. When you get a lot of neutral/indifferent people together, you get a lot of inaction, arguments, and lack of true character investment. That's not always the case, but a lot of times it is. Heroes don't really have a problem choosing to act -- they save the f%!*in' day because that's what heroes do!
I made a system for this the last time we discussed it.
I think it still applies here. Each row in the diagram below represents a 5' row. The X rows in the example are an unoccupied 10' of space between the scout(s) and the rest of the party.
Pick an alphanumeric position on the chart below.
Zahar and Kasuri will take 4A and 4B in 10' hallways and Zahar will be last in line behind Kasuri in 5' hallways. Super simple.
Marching Order:
Reginald D'Loria wrote:
[Scout] X X [Front Line] [Mid-Range] [Long Range/Rear Position]
So, if we used a format like that, it might be really easy and efficient if we used a system to reference the positions by simply labeling them in a template:
[1A,1B] X X [2A, 2B] [3A, 3B] [4A, 4B]
That way you could easily change positions and everyone would know exactly where you are: ("Reginald moves from position 2A to position 4B for the next leg of the dungeon.") For a 5' hallway, you'd just eliminate the "A and B" positions in each tier and claim whatever sequential numeric position you prefer.
"Snakes are very temperamental and approaching them for any reason is not advised, especially if they happen to be larger than you. Was your friend made aware of this? I suppose if he was as idiotic as you say, then perhaps it wouldn't have mattered. Still, it would seem that you've found yourselves some willing allies. If the dangers here are truly as great as what I've been led to believe, I would rather join your company than try my luck alone. What do all of you say to that?"
In response to Raseri's question, he replies: "Zahar. Excuse my lack of manners, but sometimes a show of force is necessary if one does not wish to be taken advantage of." When Ninivic appears, Kasuri's eyes widen, her eats flatten, and a low growl rumbles within her chest. The druid gently strokes her atop the head. "Hush now. Friends; not food." He smiles politely at Ninivic and bows his head in respect. "Though she may not be large, her power may surprise you."
During the conversation with Zeltor, footsteps can be heard descending the stone stairs into the dungeon. A tall, hooded, human-shaped figure appears at the foot of the stairs and stops short. His lips part as if to speak, but his words are delayed by the motley assortment of people gathered here.
"I didn't expect to run into anyone else here when I followed this devil spawn to the entrance." He motions to Zeltor for emphasis. "I apologize for following you, devil spawn. I needed to find a way here and I overheard your conversations in Zelkor's Ferry. Rest assured that I don't intend to impede whatever intentions you have in this place. Your business is your own, as is mine."
Turning to the others, he adds:
"I don't know who you are, but I've heard this place is full of brigands. If you're looking for a fight, I apologize in advance for your painful deaths."
With that, he calls over his shoulder.
"Kasuri!"
A muscular, white, armored panther suddenly bounds down the staircase and bares its fangs at the group. Its sleek body ripples with muscle and appears coiled to strike at any moment. The stranger strokes the creatures head softly and smiles at the group.
"However.."
"If you're looking to accomplish something greater than bloodshed in this place, then perhaps you may have found an ally... or two."
