First of all, I want to say Wow! I've really been enjoying reading these write-ups. I almost feel like I was there to watch while your group was playing, instead of just reading about it. I've read up to Foxglove Manor so far, and it's brought back a lot of fond memories of the RotRL campaign I played in a few years ago. Which leads to the question, have you ever had a player play a character that was crazy?
I played two different characters during our campaign. Both were crazy. One was a quiet kind of crazy. The other was a complete lunatic. The party never knew when he would do something ridiculous. Needless to say, he tended to cause lots of problems for the group. I actually started rolling Will saves to see if he would do whatever new thing had come to mind, but he always seemed to fail. Unfortunately, I was absent the day the party investigated Foxglove Manor, otherwise I'm sure something in there would have wound up at least getting tasted. I can definitely see the GM describing the rat and me rolling a 3 on my Will save and saying, perfectly straight-faced, "I eat the rat." And then having to duck all the dice that would get thrown at me.The party heard scrabbling in the next room, and found a small washroom with a hopelessly-diseased rat trapped in the bathtub. Raesh quickly dispatched it. No one had the urge to eat the dead rat.
GM Note: OK, I love the author's writing, but why was it necessary to list the effects of eating everything in the house? What kind of gamers does this guy GM for? Seriously. "I eat the rat." Yeah. None of my players said that. Ever.
I've actually gamed with one guy who was the closest thing to a 'true' sociopath I've ever seen or heard of (outside the newspapers, of course), so yep, I've gamed with big-time crazy. And I've played with gamers who just felt their PCs were crazy.
It wasn't so much a question of, "Why would ANY player ever do that," so much as, "Does this GM have so many players that do that that he or she felt it necessary to write up?"
There's fungus in all the modules. I know what I as a GM would do if a PC ate a random patch of fungus, a zombie corpse, or what-have-you. I just found it entertaining that in Foxglove Manor you get an explicit description of what each dining experience does. That was the amusing part of it.
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09-Feb-2013 Game
In spite of being insanely combat-heavy for our group, this session was really a great deal of fun to GM, and I hope the players had fun. Notable events included my die deciding to make up for the entirety of its previous existence and crit around a dozen times. Unfortuantely (or fortunately), every single one of those crits centered around Halek, so he spent most of the game being a walking engine of destruction. And don't get me started on that "auto-confirm a crit once per rage" rage power. Talk about broken! Give a barbarian an earthbreaker, Critical Focus, and that rage power, and stuff starts dying!
The players have asked that I stop spoilering any of the plot in my overall summary, so all I can say about the overall session is that I had an unfortunately-terrible breakfast (everyone else's was good, so I just ordered wrong. Hard to get mad at a restaurant when yours is the only bad dish.), made up for by the best Thai food I've ever had for dinner. How's that for a 'session summary'?
We are proud to present the Silver Tsuto Award to a fast human zombie who, facing death at the hands of an angry drow paladin, managed to draw "critical hit nearest friend" from the deck and, quite literally, knocked his partner's head clean off. It was Raesh's first laugh-out-loud moment of the entire campaign. Well done, Mr. Zombie, well done! And I'm sorry Halek didn't appreciate your humor nearly as much as the rest of us. You will be missed...
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19-Kuthona-4707 (continued from last game)
The party allowed Raesh to lead the rest of them down the tunnel around 100', at which point Hi cast Darkvision on everyone, allowing them to proceed downwards without announcing their presence with a light. The echoing clanks produced by Raesh's plate mail? Not so much...
The tunnel wound around and down for perhaps a quarter or a half mile, until Hi estimated that they were at least 800' below the surface. The rough-cut tunnel slowly smoothed out to clean-cut walls, clearly of Thassilonian origin, but this time quite different: All sharp corners had been carefully rounded. Shiro's player, an avid Call of Cthulu player, jokingly remarked, "They must have been trying to keep out Hounds of Tindalos." I glared at him, but said nothing.
They investigated the first passage, found that it dead-ended in rubble, and proceeded to a strange room. The floor and walls were polished black marble, flickering with an eerie light that made it impossible to tell how far away they were, while the curved corners made depth perception out-and-out nauseating. Raesh stepped in, made Fortitude and Will saves...
...And was promptly missed by a massive club. The runeslave hill giant struck again, and this blow bounced off her shield (missed her by 1)! Shiro, fearing that the giant would try to grab Raesh, cast Freedom of Movement on her. Halek rushed in to help, only to keel over and lose his breakfast all over the marble floor. The giant roared and shook its club; the runes tattooed all over its body glowed, and it attacked with renewed intensity, striking Raesh twice. Inspired by Halek's performance, Shiro cast Grease under the giant and it tumbled to the floor. Raesh finished off the giant, accidentally criticalling and killing it when she had been planning to keep it alive.
After a few rounds, Halek recovered and Hi stepped in. Once in the room, Hi lost his breakfast as well. Raesh examined the giant corpse. It was unlike any giant they had encountered so far, and seemed almost 'put together' from other giant parts. She wasn't sure whether the thing she had just killed had even been alive.
As they examined the body and Hi decorated the floor, Shiro waited outside, reasoning that they should only have one of them incapacitated at a time. Raesh and Shiro made massive Perception rolls (30+) to know that something was coming through the walls. A bizarre mechanical-looking creature moved into the room through the stone as if the stone were air. A huge maw on its belly opened and it dumped gallons of hot slag on Raesh, Hi, and Halek. In spite of his resistance to fire, Hi took significant damage, as did Halek and Raesh. The floor was littered with molten bits of metal, making movement difficult. Shiro cast Freedom of Movement on Halek. Raesh stepped up and struck the creature. Halek stepped up and... crit! For the first in a loooong series of crits for the irritating, er, irritated barbarian. Adding another pair of hits from Halek, the forgefiend dropped. So much for hit-and-run tactics! Hit-and-die is far less effective!
With the forgefiend gone, once Hi was done hurling, Shiro stepped in... and shrank...
The entire party stared at the now-Small Shiro. Raesh reached out tentatively and touched a tiny, furry ear. A huge grin grew on Shiro's face. "Cool!!!!" was all he said as he stepped over and gave Raesh a big hug (prompted no doubt by the hint of a smile that slipped from behind her otherwise stoney face).
"Welcome to my world," Hi said, handing Shiro a GIANT marshmallow. Shiro dug in, happy as, er, a kitsune with a giant marshmallow.
Shiro was incorrigibly happy. Everything he liked in the world was twice as big! His mind wandered as he thought of all the desserts he must now try. He smiled. He hummed. He seemed perfectly healthy, other than his small size, and did not seem to be harmed in any way. Once they were sure Shiro was in no danger, and indeed seemed ecstatic with his new state, they healed everyone up and proceeded.
Shiro listened at the door to the south and heard sounds as if from a huge boiling cauldron. After some confusion about the actual size of the cauldron, was it twice as big, or half as big as he thought?... This because his ears seemed to be closer to the floor now... They opened the door. The room ahead of them glowed with a dull, red glow, and they could all now hear the gurgling. They proceeded down the passage to the edge of a large room where Shiro could see some kind of creature standing in front of a massive cauldron, at least 12 feet tall and 10 feet across. Hi identified the creature as a stone golem. The party assumed that the stone golem's orders were to dump the boiling cauldron on anyone who entered. Shiro prepared to cast Grease as soon as the golem grabbed the cauldron, and Raesh and Halek ran in to attack. Raesh struck first and chipped off a bit of stone. Halek hit for a bit. The stone golem pounded on each of them for decent damage, Shiro Greased the floor but it managed to remain standing, Raesh hit it again, and Halek criticaled... again.
The stone golem, at -60 hit points, fell in pebbles to the floor.
The party examined the cauldron. Hi rolled a natural 20 on his Knowledge: Arcana. He recognized the cauldron from some of his readings: It was a device used to resurrect certain types of corpses into magical slaves that would do your bidding; for example, a cauldron keyed to 'elves' would raise dead elves (and drow) into bizarre mockeries of their former selves, totally loyal to whomever had activated the cauldron. This cauldron was clearly configured to raise dead giants. Hi tried to Drench the flames, but they merely lit themselves again after a few seconds. Having no idea how to shut down the device, the party proceeded.
The next room was such an obvious trap it was laughable; suits of armor stood against the wall. Several hill giant corpses (obviously zombies) stood among the suits of armor. In the center of it all stood a suit of blood-spattered plate mail, a bloody stump where the head should be. Neither the zombies nor the suit of armor moved while the party watched them. Hi got bored and decided to provoke a reaction by casting Chain Lightning across all of them.
A slew of failed Reflex saves later, the party was in combat with four hill giant zombies and the Headless Lord. Raesh declined the opportunity to charge into the center of the room, choosing instead to remain in the hall where the giants would be bottlenecked. The Headless Lord summoned a swarm (9) of human zombies while the zombie hill giants moved forward to assist the human zombies. As Raesh did battle with multiple human zombies and a pair of hill giant zombies, Halek carved his way through the human zombies, including a double-crit for 162(!!) points of damage on a human zombie. The recipient of our Silver Tsuto award decapitated his buddy with prejudice, causing Raesh to laugh out loud, which in turn caused Hi and Shiro to do double-takes. Shiro nearly danced he was so happy... this was the first time he'd heard Raesh laugh without reservation and it was a great feeling even in the midst of such a "deadly" combat! Hi used the opening to drop Burning Hands on six of the human zombies, killing four of them, and Shiro performed, mostly because he felt the need to make music, seeing little need to cast spells as the combat seemed to be going well. The Headless Lord rolled hopelessly poorly (four rolls of 5 or less on five rolls) and did a bit of damage to Raesh. Halek stepped in to take on the Headless Lord, the Headless Lord took his attack of opportunity, and... double-crit Halek! 152 points of damage later, Halek was unconscious on the ground (he hadn't been raging) and about to be coup-de-graced. Raesh would have none of it and finished off the Headless Lord, while Hi finished off the remaining hill giant zombie.
With everything around them dead, the party spent a massive amount of time healing, searching the room, and deciding that they really couldn't fit seven suits of large plate mail into their type I Bag of Holding. By the time they were done, the party had exhausted both of their cure light wands, sucked down almost all of their healing potions, and even tapped into some of Shiro's healing spells.
The party explored the forgefiend's lair, noting that the passages into it were only 5' wide, so giants couldn't traverse them. Hi added some graffiti to the room to make it memorable, studied the location, and the party moved on. They found a mirrored silver door with a sihedron-shaped keyhole. Their sihedron medallions didn't fit, so they decided to leave the door for later. They opened the door to the room with three Hounds of Tindalos, Raesh rushed in and was sure to be surrounded and eaten, and... Shiro used Silent Image to put an image of a wall between two of the hounds and Raesh. By the time the two hounds ran around the wall, Halek had engaged alongside Raesh, and the hounds perished with little fanfare.
Now here's what I love/hate about my party: They looked at the map they had uncovered so far. They figured they had two rooms left; the big, central one and the smaller one off to the side. They thought that Mokmurian just HAD to be behind the big mirrored central door, so they should do the smaller door first. But they decided to put up ALL their 10-minute buffs before opening that door. You kind of feel bad for Big M watching this thought process...
So imagine my predicament: I'd asked about Mokmurian's tactics in the GM thread and been assured that he'd be fine as-written. But here were the two fighters with Freedom of Movement cast on them already, along with every other buff that lasted a minute per level or more. The sorcerer was already Flying. They opened the door, saw the fog, and knew EXACTLY who was in the room. Shiro begain performing Inspire Courage and Hasted them while Hi shot a blind Cone of Cold into the room and Mokmurian dutifully cast Cloudkill. Raesh and Halek rushed in as Mokmurian cast Solid Fog, which had... no effect whatsoever! The Cloudkill had little effect (2 CON to Raesh, 1 CON to Halek) before they were through the cloud, then Raesh invoked Aura of Justice, and she and Halek went to town with their composite bows.
GM Note: We had a slight error here as Raesh's player used both Fire of Entanglement (a swift action) and Aura of Justice (a swift action) in the same round. It was an honest mistake on her part, and I really don't feel it affected the outcome in any way.
Because I'd allowed Fire of Entanglement, Mokmurian lost a round as Raesh and Halek continued to pepper him with arrows, Raesh criticalling him with her Frost Burst (or whatever it's called) bow. Hi flew upwards through the fog, managing to get through it in a single round, and hit Big M with Chain Lightning. Shiro moseyed through the fog, performing, and dropped Silence right in front of Big M. (Haste really does make Solid Fog kind of pointless.)
Another critical decision point: Big M was at 55 hit points. His "flee threshold" was 40 hit points, but he'd taken almost 200 hit points in two rounds; I knew that if he stayed he was toast. I decided to play him "by the book" so he flew up 30 feet to be out of the Silence spell, hit Hi with a quickened Scorching Ray (he'd never seen Hi resist fire, and I insist on playing my monsters by, "What they know," rather than by, "What the GM knows"), doing exactly 0 points of damage, and dropped a Force Wall between himself and the arrow-shooting annoyances. Hi returned the favor, hitting Big M with a lightning bolt. (Yeah, thanks, Hi, for deciding NOT to use fire when he'd used his spell slot to protect himself from it!) Unfortunately, Raesh Levitated herself over the force wall and dropped Big M to negative hit points, and my decision to have him fly upwards to get out of the Silence field proved to be his downfall, as he dropped to his doom.
So yeah, Mokmurian was less-than-tough, and didn't even get off a Disintegrate spell.
Once Mokmurian was dead, his corpse animated and delivered a pre-canned speech: "So these are the heroes of the age. More like gasping worms to me -- worms to be crushed back into the earth when I awaken the armies of Xin-Shalast, when the name Karzoug is again spoken with fear and awe. Know that the deaths of those marked by the Sihedron -- the giants you have so conveniently slain for me -- hasten my return, just as yours soon will. Fools, all of you. Is this all you could manage in ten thousand years?"
Yeah, the party counted their total 'giant kill' and came up with a grand total of around 14 maybe 5 of whom had had their runes cut off before they were killed. In fact, they'd only killed two stone giants (including Mokmurian) and one runeslave giant during their entire 'attack'. So reading that out loud was kind of silly. But I'm a dutiful GM; I did it anyway.
The party searched Mokmurian and his room, finding tens of thousands of gold pieces in cash and jewelry, plus a scroll they couldn't identify, a wand of Bear's Endurance, his +1 defending spell-storing club, his fog-cutting lenses, a Type II bag of holding, his Robe of Runes, his spellbook, containing all core rulebook spells levels 1-6 (!!), and, most importantly, the key to the mirrored door. They decided that the club should go to Conna, but they would keep the rest. They found a map of the Lost Coast written in Thassilonian with Sandpoint circled. Shiro used a scroll of Comprehend Languages to read it, and learned that the lighthouse was actually a device called a "Hellstorm Flume", and the giants had been searching for a key to a 'runeforge' held by a 'traitor' named Xaliasa.
They quickly searched the rest of the floor, then used the key to open the mirrored door, finding the Library of Thassilon.
I really wish I could provide all the details of everything they did in the library; my writeup is going to be a poor reflection of their wonder, joy, and absolute infatuation with the library and its librarian.
As the librarian clattered to life, rolled forward, and asked Raesh (in Thassilonian) what volume she required, Shiro cast Comprehend Languages and translated for her. When she did not respond in Thassilonian, the librarian repeated the request in Elven. The party proceeded to go nuts:
- The first thing they asked for was "the oldest book in the library". I decided to make it a treatise on the founding of Thassilon by Emperor Xin himself.
- Hi researched Hellstorm Flumes, confirming Brodert Quink's theory that the lighthouse was actually a weapon, and their suspicions that the "Stones of Desna" in the cathedral were actually the triggering mechanism.
- Shiro researched Thassilonian cooking, and copied down half a dozen Thassilonian recipes using local ingredients around Sandpoint for Ameiko.
- Raesh researched drow, then procured a map of Golarion pre-Earthfall, and had the librarian make a copy of it for Olytrius.
- The party researched Thistletop, and learned that the fountain they had been wondering about was merely a scrying fountain that allowed anyone drinking from it to see out of the eyes of the statue.
- Hi noticed the Librarian was looking a little run down and researched how to repair the librarian, and decided to take Craft Wondrous Item as his next feat to assist in the librarian's repair.
- The party researched the runeslave cauldron, and obtained the formula for the broth to destroy it utterly.
- The party researched runewells, and learned how to destroy them utterly.
- The party wanted to learn tactical information (location of all seven runewells, for example), but the mean GM wouldn't give them that one.
- Shiro, feeling bad that the library didn't know this, provided the librarian with information about the rune wells and locations they knew. He felt that the "bad guys" already knew more than he, and should the worst happen perhaps such information would be helpful to another group of adventurers. He signed his little book Shiro.
- The party researched Xin-Shalast, and learned its location, along with the fact that it was closely associated with the nightmare realm of Leng.
- The party researched Karzoug, and learned that the Runelord of Greed warred with Alaznist, the Runelord of Wrath, to the point that many feared their wars would destroy the world. The Runelords had a method to put themselves into suspended animation, to be awoken by their minions at a later time.
- Karzoug was a master of transmutation magic. A weapon forged using illusion and enchantment magic would be particularly effective against him.
- The party used the library to help them identify the unidentified scroll as a scroll of Limited Wish. How much has Limited Wish been nerfed in Pathfinder? The party discussed using it to give everyone tails. (At least Shiro did.)
After taking extensive notes, the party learned of the library's preservative properties, and realized that all of the paper they had been using would crumble to dust as soon as they left. They went back to Mokmurian's room and copied all of their notes onto new paper. Curse them and their cleverness!
Once their research was done, they decided it was time to rest. The librarian assured them that the library had not been breached in over 10,000 years, and no one had entered who had not then left. The party pulled some chairs together, and settled in to rest. Shiro turned into a squirrel-sized fox, wriggled out of his gear and jumped up on Raesh's chest where he nuzzled under her chin, and fell fast asleep.
GM Note: Yes, I know. I should have thrown in a tiny village of tiny fey for Shiro to frolic with in his teeny, tiny fox form, but it just would have killed the rest of the party with cuteness, and really didn't fit in with the rest of the library's furnishings...
Once they were rested, Shiro was horrified to find that once he had left his clothes, they had returned to normal size, and he would have to return to normal size also or be without his gear. He sighed, and ruefully allowed Hi to cast Dispel Magic on him to return him to normal size so he could get dressed. They headed upstairs, using Dimension Door to bypass the nausea/shrinking room, much to Shiro's regret.
Pity the poor trolls at the top of the ramp. The party was using Darkvision, so they were not forewarned. Shiro strolled in using Fascinate, and both of them hopelessly failed their Will saves as Hi Silenced the passage beyond them. Poor Durek stared raptly at Shiro as Raesh and Halek walked up to either side of him. Hi kept the passage Silenced as Raesh and Halek laid in to the poor troll. Rurek woke up just in time to have Shiro Grease the floor in front of him as Raesh and Halek obliterated Durek. (Halek crit Durek as well, sending him to over -60 hit points.) Hi used Acid Arrow to kill Durek, and Raesh chastised him for not first checking him for a Sihedron Rune. They defeated Rurek, cut off his rune, and executed him.
Speaking of pity, I had to spend some thought on the lamias. The party was using no light, had used no loud magic, and had Silenced the passage between them and the trolls. There was simply no reasonable way they could be aware of the party. There's nothing in the guide about where they are if they are unaware of the party, so I decided to give the party a "luck" roll -- on a 1, both lamias would be exactly at the end of the chamber where they could see the party from across the entire chamber and have time for buffs and spells. On a 20, both lamias would be right next to the entrance as Raesh and Halek rushed in, resulting in lamia paste. Yeah, after a quick discussion of who was "luckier", Shiro's player talked Raesh's player into making the roll and Raesh rolled a 19. Yeah, it wasn't pretty. Lamias in close hand-to-hand with barbarians and paladins = bad.
Again, Hi hadn't been needed to pound on the Lamias, so he'd Silenced the passage beyond. Fortunately, the dragons spotted the party before they were attacked. Unfortunately, apparently Raesh was REALLY determined to get a dragon this time. The Inspired, Hasted, Smiting Evil Raesh ran in, crit on her first attack, crit on her second attack, and one-shot a friggin' dragon. Not wanting to be outdone, Halek crit as well. Two young red dragons? One round. Searching for and finding the Sihedron runes on the dragons, Raesh snarled under her breath. Stupid fragile marked creatures!
Hi hadn't even had time to Silence the passage beyond, so I rolled Perception on the nearby giants. Needless to say, continuing the trend, Conna heard the commotion, but the other guards didn't. Conna came to the party and they explained that Mokmurian lie dead below. She asked to retrieve his body, and Hi Dimension Doored her and Raesh to get the body, then back to the party. During this time, Shiro and Halek waited patiently; sharing a drink from a water skin, as they watched for approaching giant patrols.
Conna proceeded through the caverns, displaying Mokmurian's corpse and demanding fealty from the giants. The four guards and Grumela the cook yielded immediately, as did the two smiths. The ogre tanners were rather surprised when a group of eight stone giants entered their room, waved at them, and pelted them with boulders. The fight was short, brutal, and one-sided. Raesh cut off the ogres' Sihedron tattoos before executing them.
Feeling that Enga the female kobold barbarian had done nothing to deserve death (according to Conna, she was guilty of little other than being quite a nuisance), Raesh tried to negotiate with her. Enga had other ideas, raged, and attacked. Halek, knowing a challenge when he saw one, raged and attacked. As Raesh desperately tried to do enough nonlethal damage to keep Halek from killing Enga outright, Halek and Enga pounded on each other, and Hi and Shiro commented on barbarian mating rituals. Worried that the kobold might try to flee down the small passage, Shiro once again created the image of a stone wall, growing from the ground to block the passage. Unfortunately for Enga, the two barbarians had nearly-identical statistics all around, but Halek was using a two-handed weapon, which really made all the difference in the world. She dropped first, and Raesh had done enough nonlethal damage that she was only unconscious. They removed her necklace of fireballs, feeling that they were a danger to her as well as others (Hi had spotted it before hitting her with anything), informed her that she was no longer welcome in the cave, and asked her to promise never to return. She gladly made this promise, as she wanted nothing more to do with the stinking giants, Shiro removed the image of a stone wall and the party released her to the small tunnels. Conna then sealed up the entrance.
General Galenmir might have happily fought the party, but seeing Conna and seven other giants together with the party, he immediately surrendered and agreed to banishment.
The party headed up the ramp to the surface, Conna at their side, planning great wrath upon the gathered ogre tribes outside of Jorgenfist...
*** End of session ***
Party leveled to 13th level. I've abandoned experience entirely and gone over to, "Level up when the book tells me to." Shiro's player has been doing this in the Carrion Crown campaign, and it's MUCH nicer, though Raesh's player admitted she'd miss the 'bonus roleplaying experience' I gave out from time to time...
Next Planned Session: Saturday, 16 February 2013.
Love that library. Such an awesome place for so many groups.
Thanks! Yeah, if Big M can get off a Scorching Ray and then a Disintegrate at the party caster, they're going to need that scroll of True Resurrection they find!
If I were to run him again, I'd have him give up on all that fog nonsense and just use the Force Wall to protect himself from the fighters while he lobbed obliteration at the casters. But in spite of my group's massive experience in other RPGs (over 50 years combined between the three of them), they're fairly new to PF, so I have a strong tendency to run the encounters as-written.
Anyway, I've started my writeup of the next session; a full 8-hour session of clean-up. And I am proud to say that an NPC earned the first pre-session Silver Tsuto Award as I was rolling out a few encounters that had to take place outside of the PC's firing range.
Expect it in a couple of days! (Carrion Crown today, where yet again my fighter pits his hopeless lack of hit points and armor class against the GM's desire to see what angst-ridden lunacy he's going to commit next...)
EDIT: They didn't *quite* make Module 5. Hi was using a Sending to apologize to Rilka for a hilarious mishap, and Rilka told him about the sinkhole, so they're gearing up in Magnimar at the moment...
I'm excited! Hurry up with that update!
Well, it went out this morning, and Raesh's player promptly added 3-4 paragraphs. Shiro's player is good about same-day editing, but we'll have to see how long it takes Hi's player. Either tonight or tomorrow morning...
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16-Feb-2013 Game
This short (for us) session included the largest "actual" battle I've ever run; I had one in Crimson Throne with 130 orcs, a giant, and a dragon attacking a Sklar Quah village, but Cloudkill and Sunburst trimmed the numbers so fast I had no trouble running the survivors. This fight took a bit longer...
As for this week's Silver Tsuto Award, we have a new low. Remember how well my dice rolled last session? Well, they came back to bite me... with a vengeance! In preparation for the fights that were to come, I had to roll out a few preliminary battles, and we had a stone giant win the award before the session even started! Now that takes true talent! The details are so delicious you'll actually have to read to get there. Sorry! It's early in the session...
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20-Kuthona-4707 (continued from last game; forgot to put in the day break from the rest)
As the party and their new stone giant allies proceeded up the ramp, Conna warned them that the rest of their path would not be nearly so easy; while the stone giants within the fortress itself would recognize Mokmurian's defeat, they would demand that she challenge Mokmurian's second-in-command, a fighter named Drogart, for rule of the tribe. The rocs would not bother the party as long as they were with the stone giants, but the party could not go out the front gate with the giants, as the hill giants and ogres would attack them on sight, and the 'winged women' who guarded the gates and sang alluring songs were completely unpredictable. Raesh narrowed her eyes. Hi muttered, "I hate harpies." Some of the stone giants muttered about their kin having been led to their doom by the winged women, and the party decided that it might make a good diplomatic impression to eliminate them. Upon approaching their perch, however, they found that the (presumed) harpies had fled.
Conna went out first, spoke to the stone giants guarding the fortress, and spoke to the frost giant emissaries. The party did not approach the frost giants, who simply called out insults in Giant as the group passed. Shiro, having cast Comprehend Languages, did not bother to translate. Once the stone giants knew the party was coming out on peaceful terms, they came to the surface. The group assured Conna they would meet her at the Kavaratti encampment, and Conna and her giants set off through the front gate, carrying Mokmurian's body. The party approached the guard tower facing the Kavaratti encampment, and the stone giant guard grudgingly allowed them to climb the tower and watch Conna and her party make their way through the hill giants all the way to her tribe. As she brandished Mokmurian's body and challenged Drogart for leadership of the clan, Hi Dimension Doored the party to her side.
She explained the rules of the engagement: It was a one-on-one fight, frequently but not always to the death. Each giant would be given as much time as he or she wanted to prepare. Her supporters would sit behind her, and his supporters behind him. Neutral giants sat at the sides. A giant with no supporters could not challenge for leadership. The party sat behind Conna, and were happy to find the other seven giants from the pit sat next to them. About ten giants sat behind Drogart as well. He began piling rocks on his side of the combat area, while Conna cast fly and blur.
GM Note: I pre-rolled the first 12 rounds of combat. You'll see why I stopped.
The combat began with Conna flying upwards and casting transmute rock to mud on Drogart. He sank, and spent his turn crawling for solid ground. She fired an acid ray but missed, and he climbed out of the mud and started grabbing his rocks. The combat went poorly for Conna for the next 7 rounds; Drogart did not miss a single save, and struck her with several rocks. The party grew concerned that Conna would lose this fight. My die decided that this would not happen this day.
Round 10: Drogart fumbled and sprained his throwing arm, no longer to throw at range. Unfortunately, Conna had no long-range spells to take advantage of this.
Round 11: Drogart fumbled again and got a potential critical on 'an ally'. I ruled it would be one of the giants or party members sitting behind Conna. During my pre-rolling, I designated the party members as targets #1-4 (figuring another 1 really would deserve severe punishment), and Drogart rolled a 1 and got a critical threat on Raesh. He did not confirm, and Raesh took 14 points of damage. The giants on both sides laughed uproariously. A few of her 'allies' slapped Raesh on the back and teased her (in Giant) about being so small, yet such a tempting target. Shiro leaned over and healed Raesh.
Round 12: For the third round in a row, Drogart fumbled. For the second time in a row, he hit Raesh with a rock, this time for 15 points and once more Shiro healed the damage. The giants around her laughed, but many others fell silent, and Conna and Drogart stopped fighting for a moment. A giant leaned over. "He has challenged you. Do you accept?"
GM Note: Yeah, I was making up the rules as I went along. Yeah, when he hit the same person two shots in a row, I figured that person had a right to defend him/herself. When I rolled to see who it would hit and got a 1, I knew who my Silver Tsuto Award winner was, because he was going to be fighting a party member. He *might* have had a chance against Shiro, but I didn't see Shiro as a 'sitting on the end' kind of guy. Sure enough, they lined up their figures, and there was Raesh sitting on the end, and I was thinking, 'Oh, Drogart, you are one dead giant.'
Raesh looked at Conna. "Would you like me to accept?"
"Please."
Raesh stood up. Money started changing hands rapidly as bets were placed. She walked forward to face Drogart. "I have all the time I need to prepare?"
"Yes."
She used Detect Evil on Drogart (definitely evil), cast vestment of the champion and Bull's Strength on herself, and declared herself ready.
It would be wonderful to say that it was an epic fight whose tale will be retold for centuries. Maybe Shiro's good enough to pull it off. But it wasn't. She Smote Evil. She kicked his tail. She didn't lose a single hit point. I think he survived almost two rounds. Lots of giants lost lots of money and wept bitter tears. Raesh stood over Drogart's felled form and called out "The leadership of the Kavaratti clan goes to Conna!"
Conna called out, first in Giant and then in Common: "My champion has felled Drogart! Would any care to stand for him and challenge her?"
To no one's surprise, Raesh was not challenged, and Conna became leader of the Kavaratti once more. Raesh asked Conna what was to be done with Drogart; she had left him unconscious, but alive. Conna explained that it was her (Conna's) decision, and while she usually spared challengers, Drogart had proven himself a particularly vile and sadistic fellow, tormenting both his fellow giants and any Shoanti he could find. She deemed his life forfeit. Raesh knelt down, said a prayer to Sarenrae, and executed him cleanly after removing his tattoo.
The first order of business was to remove the Sihedron tattoos from Conna's clan, and the party assisted with this task. During this, a stone giant from the northern camp approached, flanked by a dire bear. It was Oriandian, leader of clan Crannoch, to find out what was happening. When he learned that Mokmurian was dead and there was to be no invasion, he did not seem displeased. All he wanted was to get his giants back to their hunting grounds. Raesh had other plans.
Over the next hour or two, Raesh, Shiro, Hi, Conna, and Oriandian crafted a non-aggression treaty between clans Kavaratti and Crannoch, and the city of Magnimar. Satisfied with the treaty, Oriandian allowed his giants to have their Sihedron tattoos removed, and they packed up and prepared to leave the valley.
The next order of business was the Valissgander clan. Conna warned that their leader, Zinderall, was a cruel and dictatorial giant, and they would make little headway in preventing him and his giants from attacking. To try to prevent any unnecessary bloodshed, the party asked Conna and her tribe to come with them. As they approached, a smokestick went off in the midst of the Valissgander tribe. Raesh, Hi, and Shiro could see some kind of fight going on, with one giant being beaten by many. They approached rapidly, and Conna identified the giant being beaten as Zinderall himself. Raesh Detected Evil on him, found him to be evil, and allowed the beatings to proceed. Morale improved. Once Zinderall was dead, clan Valissgander immediately turned and declared for Conna, making her the leader of the largest clan at Jorgenfist! Conna had them remove their Sihedron tattoos. Once again, as they worked a grizzled old one-eyed giant approached. He was Vlorian, head of the Jormunsir clan. He wanted nothing to do with any treaty with the humans, nor did he like the idea of abandoning the invasion or removing his clan's tattoos. He asked for 'concessions', such as a few of the Maidens of Minderhall or some land in lower Varisia. Raesh scowled, the Maidens were not objects to be handed around as spoils. Shiro made an Intimidate check, "Perhaps you misunderstand the reason we have come to your door with an army..." Vlorian rolled lower than Shiro by somewhere around 30, and paled, groveled, and acceded to all of Shiro's demands. Eventually, outnumbered, completely cowed and with little real leverage, Vlorian grudgingly agreed to have his clan's tattoos removed and to leave Jorgenfist.
Conna had reservations about even approaching the Maidens of Minderhall; they were the most ogre-like of all the stone giants, and she did not think they could be convinced to stand down. The party approached, and reminded the Maidens of the depredations of the ogres, and offered them a chance at sweet revenge and bloodshed. One monstrous Diplomacy roll later and the Maidens were willing to join in the fight.
An army of 35 stone giants, Conna, and the party approached the combined might of the Red Shield and Nightshade ogre clans. Raesh cautioned that if any ogres could be de-tattooed before death, that would be preferable, but given the choice between sacrificing the ogres and allowing Conna's tribe to take casualties, the ogres lost. Rocks rained down as the ogres bellowed their war cries and charged. Hi took to the sky and lobbed a fireball, Raesh and Halek fired bows, and Shiro performed. As the opposing armies approached each other, the harpies of the Black Tower made their appearance, charming all the giants and ogres of the battlefield save Conna, and charmed Halek to boot. Over 70 giants and ogres headed for the cliffs. Shiro, smiling broadly, stepped among his giant allies and performed a Countersong. Somewhere, the mother of all harpies wept as he gave everyone within earshot a save of 31.
The harpies were displeased as they were pelted with dozens of boulders and several arrows. Two fell immediately, and the third dove for cover behind the still-charmed ogres and continued to lead them towards the cliff. Hi had other plans, gained elevation, and Disintegrated her. A whopping 4 on her saving throw reduced her to a few specks of dust. The charm broken, the armies charged one another anew. Attracted by the commotion, the hill giant clans arrived. Shiro, unsure of the hill giant's intent, created an illusory wall between them and the fight.
Papa Beshk, head of the combined ogre clans, arrived and split open a Maiden. Raesh introduced him to Smite Evil by bow, including a critical. Papa Beshk dropped. Hi, still not content from a mere 103 points of damage from his Disintegrate, flew over the leading clumb of ogres. And dropped Enga's Type IV necklace of fireballs among them. And dropped a fireball on it.
Perhaps the greatest joy of the night was watching Hi's player trying to hold 36d6 at once. The normal ogres were vaporized. Of the three ogre fighters in the blast, two managed to fumble their Reflex saves, taking well over 200 damage each. A mushroom cloud went up. Nothing survived within. Hi soared on the thermals, cackling maniacally. The hill giants, seeing a harpy disintegrated and a clutch of ogres reduced to a few ashes, decided that they were no longer interested in participating in this fight, turned away from the wall, and headed back towards camp. Raesh took down two ogres in one round, cursing under her breath at her inability to keep them alive. Halek pranced obediently through the fight steadily knocking ogres unconscious and killing not a one. GM Note: His 'normal' damage was 2d6+28, making it impossible for him to do anything other than knock an ogre out unless he criticalled. And my die wasn't in a criticalling mood.
The rest of the fight was mop-up, and the handful of ogres who tried to flee to the hill giant encampment were mowed down without mercy.
As soon as the fight was over, a hill giant approached waving a white flag. He was willing to agree to any concessions the party demanded, as long as he and his people could leave in peace. The party removed the Sihedron tattoos from the hill giants, bade them promise not to assault small folk. The hill giant looked at Hi, still smoking slightly and with a maniacal grin, and paled... "We not attack small folk... ever!" Raesh was not sure that promise would not last very long, but let them go. As they walked up the hill to leave, Cinderma the taiga giant came down from her watchtower to find out what was happening. The party explained that Mokmurian was dead, the army was disbanding, and once she had her Sihedron tattoo removed, she was free to go. She was offended. She pointed out that they had destroyed her home and taken away her duties. They owed her a home. Shiro asked her what kind of home she would like. She replied, "Someplace cold, where I will be left alone." Raesh said, "I know someplace cold, someplace that could use a resident..." Hi obligingly teleported Cinderma to Hook Mountain and showed her the Kreeg stronghold. At Raesh's request, Shiro went with them as a little fox.
Cinderma had to admit, she was pleased. It was an excellent home, far from humans, and if the humans of Fort Rannick left her be, she would leave them be. Shiro, teeth chattering, stuttered out a warning about the Naiad in the cave at the bottom of the mountain, and Cinderma responded, "Why would I leave the mountain?"
Hi and Shiro, shivering, teleported back to Jorgenfist, and made a mental note to warn both Fort Rannick and Magnimar of the taiga giant now living at Hook Mountain. They also giggled at what would happen to any ogres who happened to try to re-take the cave. Almost immediately upon return, Shiro hopped down from Hi's shoulder and climbed up on Raesh's. Still in tiny fox form and feeling very mischievous, he stuck his still cold nose against Raesh's neck as an explination of just how freezing those mountains had been!
The final few orders of business were to explore Longtooth's cave, where they found hundreds of thousands of copper pieces, plus silver, gold, platinum, and other valuables, but no traps. They decided that the rocs in the tower did not deserve to be harassed, and indeed might serve as good guardians of the place. They made a mental note to approach them with food and Animal Handling rolls later. Then they approached the Black Tower itself.
Entering the tower was no trouble; the door was not locked. They were surprised at the ice on the floor, but their boots of winter wonderland (or whatever) gave them secure footing. They explored the upstairs, finding nothing but an empty bell tower, and explored downstairs, where they found a trap door in the floor that opened to a 50' shaft straight down. Shiro dropped a sunrod down the shaft, and Hi thought he might have heard some kind of whispering. Raesh decided to Levitate down.
Take a look at the Black Monk. Look at all those wonderful abilities, statistics, and attacks. Now think, "Paladin in full plate mail." Yeah. That bad.
The Black Monk got his surprise attack on Raesh and tripped her, but did little damage, and she was immune to everything else on his sheet. Fortunately for him, Hi flew down the shaft to see what was going on, and Shiro Dimension Doored himself and Halek right next to Raesh. Raesh cast Grace and righted herself, striking the monk for a little damage. Hi was paralyzed by his Aura of Despair, and, seeing the entire party clustered together so wonderfully, the Black Monk used his breath of death (really nasty -- area effect level drain!?!?!). Every single PC made their save. Halek missed him with all three attacks. In the single most hilarious moment of the night, Shiro, seeing that Halek had entirely whiffed his attack, moved around the monk, stepped up, poked hopelessly at him with his rapier, and said, "Dink! You're flanked!"
I decided that Shiro was going to learn the full fury of the Black Monk. I felt bad for Shiro, but he'd really brought it on himself. There was only one PC between Shiro and a serious pummeling -- Raesh, who now stood directly across from Shiro.
Smite Evil. Double crit. Crit. Bits of Black Monk scattered across the floor.
Raesh looted the (pieces of the) corpse, and Shiro and Hi used prestidigitation to clean the items. Once they Dimension Doored back to the surface, Hi dropped a fireball down the shaft to sterilize the room. Shiro was absolutely thrilled with the 'puzzle box'. He'd actually taken revelation as a spell, so he cast it and good hope on himself and set about opening the case while the others stayed back a reasonable distance.
After a bit of gleeful fiddling about, Shiro was able to get it open (DC 40 seems massive until you get +10 from revelation and +2 from good hope) and saw the crumbling scrolls. Without a second thought, Hi Dimension Doored them to the library entrance and they went inside. They extracted the scrolls one at a time, casting Mending to keep them intact, and found the full Emerald Codex of the Therassic order, including the anathema archive and scrolls of greater restoration, heroes' feast, order's wrath, regenerate, resurrection, scrying, symbol of stunning, and true resurrection. Hilariously, Hi fumbled his roll to identify the scrying scroll, so I had him scry Rilka in the bath. She rolled a natural 19 on her Will save, rejecting the scry, and Hi, realizing that it would have worried Rilka to have been scryed in the middle of her bath by a possibly-unknown person (Hi didn't know if she would have been able to sense that it was him or not), determined that he had to contact her as soon as possible to let her know what had happened and apologize for any concern it may have caused her. And that he missed her.
They curled up for another night in the library, though this time Shiro slept in his Kitsune form on a sofa of his own.
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21-Kuthona-4707
The party decided not to explore the two caves in the cliff over the river, and instead spent the day filling their bags of holding with as much coin as they could hold, then teleported to the Blue Bunyip for some well-deserved rest and relaxation. As the concierge approached, we were treated to another Shiro classic, "Aw, geez, we've been shoveling coins all day long! We could really use some rest!"
The concierge quickly arranged rooms, baths, and massages for his favorite guests, and sent word to the Kobayashi and Mikune clans that they were back in town. The party visited the mayor's office and presented Conna's treaty to him, and he was overjoyed at their work. He told them that Magnimar owed them a 'deep debt of gratitude'. No coin was forthcoming, though. They made arrangements with the temple of Abadar to help them shovel the rest of Longtooth's coins into bags of holding (I have the temple charge a standard 10% fee plus transport for having to shovel copper). Back at the Bunyip, a tumble of kitsune poured in. Not only did Kaede, Umie, and Yuto appear, but Shirota himself! (Shiro sighed and said, "There goes my massage," but Shirota was kind enough to let Shiro use his masseuse for the evening. Yuto again volunteered to be Raesh's masseuse.) The party bathed, got massaged, feasted, performed, told their tales, being very careful to omit any mention of the library.
At the end of the evening, Shiro and Raesh escorted the kitsune home (Halek had been defeated by a goat), with Umie and Kaede taking Shiro's arms, and Yuto Raesh's. There was no non-awkward way to ask them in, so Shiro and Raesh parted from the kitsune and headed back for the Blue Bunyip. As they walked back, Shiro looked at Raesh, "You did good, Raesh." She looked back at him, "We all did good."
The next morning, the party made plans to attend to clean-up at Jorgenfist, repair the librarian, contact Mayor Shreed at Turtleback Ferry and a host of other errands. Hi prepared Sending and sent an apology to Rilka. Her message came back, "Oh, that's all right! I miss you! Come see me soon! And you should see the sink hole that opened up here two days ago..."
*** End of session ***
Next Planned Session: Friday, 22 February 2013. Unfortunately, personal life is intruding, and not in a good way, so this may get postponed. (Very very sick cat at the vet hospital right now.)
UPDATE: Got a call from the vet and she's stable, eating, and drinking, but they still can't figure out what's wrong with her...
They wanted to explore the entire perimeter, the giants told them that Longtooth lived up "thataways", and I figured a dragon cave wouldn't be that hard to spot if you were actively looking for it. So I let 'em have it 'for free' because it's really not that big of a hoard. (And you KNOW they're going to find some way to give it away anyway...)
Kitty has already cost more than my lifetime of Paizo purchases (WizKids battle set included) and they still don't know what's wrong with her. Fortunately, she's coherent, eating, and drinking, so other than costing me a dragon's hoard, she doesn't seem that bad off. Updates on her this evening, but she's doing well enough we're likely to play on Friday after all.
Hope they diagnose what's troubling poor Kitty soon enough. Anyone who complains about RPGs being expensive certainly has never owned a cat.
Keep up the campaign journals, NobodysHome! My RotRL is currently on hiatus until my life becomes less busy, so until that point, I have to live vicariously through your vivid retellings.
"Perhaps the greatest joy of the night was watching Hi's player trying to hold 36d6 at once"
Whenever I get past more than 20 dice at once is the point at which I just shovel them all into a bowl and then dump out the bowl's contents to roll them (preferably dump them into a rolling box, AKA the box top of a board game, where they won't go spilling all over the table).
Kudos to Raesh on being an example of the unstoppable force known as "a paladin", and I hope they manage to help your kitty get better soon.
Apologies for being depressing:
- It's terminal cancer, of the 'less than a week to live' variety.
- All members of this particular group are major 'cat people', and all of them love Kitty
- It will likely be a couple of weeks before we're up to playing again. They're all coming over to say their goodbyes tonight. Kitty's not a very bright kitty, but at least she'll know she will be missed.
Sorry to hear about Kitty.
|
Apologies for being depressing:
- It's terminal cancer, of the 'less than a week to live' variety.
- All members of this particular group are major 'cat people', and all of them love Kitty
- It will likely be a couple of weeks before we're up to playing again. They're all coming over to say their goodbyes tonight. Kitty's not a very bright kitty, but at least she'll know she will be missed.
So sad. I'm sure Kitty knows she's loved, and I hope her passing will be painless. For her family and friends, I hope the heartbreak heals as quickly as possible. There is nothing unmanly about shedding tears over the loss of a pet - they are your family, and you lose a little piece of yourself with that little ball of fur.
Thank you for your kind words and support.
Kitty passed away on Friday. She will be missed.
NH I'm sorry for the loss of your beloved kitty. The passing of a four-legged family member is never an easy thing to bear.
Secondly I just want to thank you for your amazing write ups that have painted a wonderful adventure. I've borrowed many of your ideas and might have a certain Drow Paladin do a cameo to hear a report from my group's Paladin. They don't read theses boards so it'd just be fun for me to break a stereotype.
While my group is much more of the min/max, GM is the enemy kind, you're telling has renewed my desire to throw in more RP opportunities and make the effort to infuse the world with personality.
I wish your family and players good tidings in his somber time and look forward to the continued adventure.
NH I'm sorry for the loss of your beloved kitty. The passing of a four-legged family member is never an easy thing to bear.
Secondly I just want to thank you for your amazing write ups that have painted a wonderful adventure. I've borrowed many of your ideas and might have a certain Drow Paladin do a cameo to hear a report from my group's Paladin. They don't read theses boards so it'd just be fun for me to break a stereotype.
While my group is much more of the min/max, GM is the enemy kind, you're telling has renewed my desire to throw in more RP opportunities and make the effort to infuse the world with personality.
I wish your family and players good tidings in his somber time and look forward to the continued adventure.
Thank you!
Raesh's player reads this thread as "GothBard". If you want to talk with her a bit about how she'd react or otherwise get her curiosity piqued, feel free to PM her; I think she'd enjoy knowing that drow paladin are proliferating because of her! (I'm still trying to get my Carrion Crown GM to have Raesh show up and yell at our hopelessly-clueless, sunshine-and-unicorns paladin of Sarenrae of that campaign.)
For everyone else, looks like we're on for a fairly short session on Saturday; we're going to do a massive Costco run (woo hoo!), then do the sinkhole, then do dinner at a rice bowl place that just opened up up the street. Good friends, good food, and a bit of roleplaying should be just what the doctor ordered.
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02-Mar-2013 Game
We move back into some semblance of normalcy with a game on Saturday the 2nd, and another scheduled for this Friday (the 8th). Though when Raesh's infamous, "Halek, hit him" fails, you know things aren't normal.
There were at least two candidates for the Silver Tsuto Award this session, but I have to hand it to the one who actually fumbled: A Hound of Lamashtu who double-fumbled when attempting to bite Shiro, and ended up so crippled that it could barely go toe-to-toe with Shiro (no offense, Shiro).
So we had around a 7-hour session, and the party completed the sinkhole...
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22-Kuthona-4707 (continued from last game)
Although the party was concerned with Rilka's message, she had not seemed excessively distressed, so they decided they could spend at least a day in Magnimar shopping before returning to Sandpoint. The party spent the day spending their well-earned cash with great gusto. Halek got himself an adamantine earthbreaker and a belt of physical perfection, plus upgraded his mithril breastplate with light fortification. Raesh upgraded her shield to a +3 mithral shield of light fortification, and upgraded her +2 belt of giant strength to a +2 belt of physical perfection. Shiro got himself a cloak of resistance +5, bringing his Will save in line with the paladin's and greatly concerning the rest of the party as to his future as comedy relief. He also got yet another Wand of Cure Light Wounds, wondering why they didn't sell them in batches of 6 or 12. Better still were the presents. Halek got himself a tattoo of the anklet of Desna they'd found among the hill giants. Shiro started buying presents for everyone imaginable: A black-and-red Minkaian dress and a dozen fine Minkai teas for Ameiko, a bottle of fine Elven wine and some dried rock lizard for Shalelu (or possibly Tesserel), a keg of fine ale for Tesserel's clerics, a rack of fine spices from Vudra, a holy symbol of Shelyn for the temple in Sandpoint, a holy symbol of Erastil for Mayor Shreed, fine shampoo and soaps for Rilka, and, best of all, he took 20 on Knowledge: Local to learn all the juicy local gossip of Magnimar to pass on to Bethana. Hi bought a Bird Feather Token for Rilka.
It took all day, so it was around 4:30 pm by the time they got back to the Blue Bunyip. Much to Shiro's delight, Kaede was setting up to play. The concierge asked Shiro when the party would like dinner to be served, Shiro looked at Hi, and Hi replied he wanted dinner at 5:46 and 30 seconds. The party quickly went upstairs to their separate rooms, freshened up, and came downstairs to enjoy Kaede's playing until dinner was served. Dinner was served precisely on time. After dinner, Hi went upstairs for a fire shower and bed. As usual, his little gnome friend was there, and as usual, he dismissed her for the evening, but not before allowing her to jump joyfully on his bed. Halek ran off for 'a bath'. Raesh found that Yuto had arrived while she was dining and was ready and willing to give her a massage, so she consented to a bath, a hair wash (from the "woman with the magical hands", I believe she said), and a massage, and Shiro simply enjoyed Kaede's performance. By the time Kaede was wrapping up, a well-washed, relaxed Raesh came downstairs to sit with Shiro. Once Kaede was packed, she came to the table and asked Shiro if he would consent to escort her home. Shiro asked Raesh if she would join them. Raesh did not need the 31 Sense Motive she rolled to know that Kaede really didn't want her company at that particular moment, so Raesh begged off, claiming she needed to polish her boots.
Shiro escorted Kaede home, and she invited him in for a nightcap. Figuring the party had nowhere urgent to go in the morning, he consented. As he came into the house, he realized that there was no one else home as Kaede got a wicked grin on her muzzle and grabbed him by the collar...
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23-Kuthona-4707
Raesh awoke to perform her morning devotions as usual, and found that Halek was not up, which was not unusual after his 'bath nights'. Shiro awoke in the Kobayashi manor. Once again, the manor was completely empty except for him and Kaede. As they entered the kitchen, they found a traditional Minkaian breakfast laid out for them, but no one else in the house. They dined together, Kaede licked Shiro goodbye, and he headed back for the Blue Bunyip. Once there, he thanked Raesh profusely for polishing her boots.
Hi and Halek eventually woke up, and the party decided that their next order of business was to travel to Fort Rannick and Turtleback Ferry to warn the locals of the presence of Cinderma.
They teleported to Fort Rannick uneventfully (boo!) to find the fort in fine shape; the walls and gates had been repaired, there were several new buildings constructed, and it looked like there were 30-40 men manning the fort. From the looks of them, a single ogre attack of the kind that had taken down the fort before would certainly overwhelm these men. They were farmers and trappers, pressed into service and doing their best, but just not very good at a military lifestyle. They did roll remarkably well on Perception and Initiative, however, and the party was quickly covered by bows before they were recognized and welcomed to the fort. It took around 5 minutes for Jakardros himself to come out and welcome them. His description of the repairs matched what they saw quite well: He had good men under his command, and they were ready and willing to work, and great at carpentry, hunting, and trapping, but just not very good as rangers. But Jakardros had rewritten the rules of the Black Arrows so that the commander could never leave the fort; he knew he'd imprisoned himself for the length of his command, but he never wanted to see the fort go undefended again, and his men loved him all the more for it. He actually looked years younger with the mantle of command, and seemed to be doing well. He warned them that the entire town of Turtleback Ferry had moved about a mile upriver from Claybottom Lake, as anyone coming within a mile of the lake was putting their lives on the line due to Black Magga. The party yet again discussed the need to rid the world of her, but yet again felt they didn't have the time at this moment.
Before leaving, they warned Jakardros of Cinderma, and told him all she wanted was to be left alone, but he seemed convinced he could treat with her, and promised to send her a gift of food and bear hides as a 'neighborly gesture' as soon as he could get some men willing to risk Hook Mountain, which probably wouldn't be until spring.
Shiro summoned phantom steeds and the party rode to Turtleback Ferry. Sure enough, a small clearing had been hewn into the Ashwood forest, and crops were being planted, buildings were being built, and every available man, woman, and child was hard at work rebuilding the town. To no one's surprise, Mayor Shreed was in the thick of it, shirt off, covered with sweat, putting the finishing touches on his new lodge of Erastil. He practically glowed with enthusiasm. As the party approached, he hopped down, extended a hand to Raesh, and when she offered hers he grabbed it and dragged her into a firm embrace. Shiro was both pleased and amazed to see Raesh return the man's hug. Once they were done, Shiro told Mayor Shreed that he'd brought a gift for him, and produced the holy symbol of Erastil. Mayor Shreed grinned broadly and put it on immediately, right next to his existing symbol, and thanked Shiro profusely.
He then invited the party to a table and described the state of Turtleback Ferry: With the additional supplies from Magnimar, they would make it through the winter, and had already planted crops that would start yielding in the spring. Livestock were coming back, ogre attacks had ceased, and they had even re-established communications with Bitter Hollow using a trail through the Kreegwood of all places. He described a mysterious spirit who had come south from the mountains and started luring ogres to their deaths, and the entire party recognized the naiad when they heard her description.
Before they could tell Mayor Shreed about Cinderma, he told Raesh that he had a young lad who had to meet her; who had seen her actions and was now determined to become a paladin. Young Duncan was only around 8 years old, scrawny, and with huge eyes, but he came forward bravely, and asked Raesh, "How do I get to be like you?"
Raesh was as unfortunately blunt as usual. "Have faith in your deity, and follow your heart. Serve your teachers well. You must dedicate yourself to practice and discipline, and remind yourself that the lives of others will depend on your skill. But also remember that such dependence is a great honor."
Duncan's eyes grew wide. "Yes, m'lady. I will do my utmost, m'lady! And, m'lady? May I have your blessing?"
Raesh had no idea what to do as the young child bowed deeply before her "I do not know what my blessing is worth, but it is yours." When the boy seemed to expect something more, she reached out and put a hand on his head. The boy leaped up, gleeful, and yelled, "I will not disappoint you, m'lady!" Raesh watched with some bemusement as he scampered away and remarked to Mayor Shreed, "If we had more time at our disposal I would remain and beat him a bit for you." Mayor Shreed managed to make his Sense Motive roll and was able detect drow humor.
Mayor Shreed invited them to stay for lunch. Little did they know what was in store. First, they were served a poor stew of root vegetables, local herbs, and little seasoning. They knew it was the best the town could do at the moment and ate heartily. (If the food was poor, Halek certainly didn't seem to notice.) As they ate, a young woman approached. "M'lords and ladies. You saved our town. You saved my husband Emeril from the tattoo and the flood. I thank you." She bowed.
The party acknowledged her graciously. Then the next villager came. And the next. And the party quickly realized that they were about to be personally thanked by over 300 survivors of Turtleback Ferry. Doing their best to look gracious, they settled in and accepted hour after hour of thanks with some aplomb. Raesh grew more and more abashed, and by the end of lunch, even Shiro was blushing at the townsfolk's effusive gratitude.
Once the thanks were complete, the party told Mayor Shreed about Cinderma, and were slightly nonplussed when he mentioned bringing the word of Erastil to her, but they figured he might know what he was doing.
Dirty and exhausted from sitting at a picnic table for the last five hours, the party teleported back to the Blue Bunyip. Shiro was a bit alarmed to see both Kaede and Umie setting up to perform (Kaede in the common area and Umie in the dining room), but figured he hadn't done anything to cause anyone any harm, and quickly relaxed. Yuto was there as well, and had already slotted time for Raesh that evening. The party cleaned up, came downstairs, dined, and enjoyed Kaede and Umie playing a duet in the common room, They invited Shiro to join them and he did, and the party had another enjoyable evening at the Blue Bunyip. Eventually Raesh went upstairs for her bath and massage (which Yuto crit! A friggin' 32 massage! Woo hoo!), Halek retired for another 'bath' with the same red-haired woman he had been with the night before (unusual, but not unknown for Halek), and Kaede and Umie asked Shiro to escort them home. (I know Hi hasn't been getting any love so far, but he's always quiet at the Bunyip. Give him a fire shower and a few marshmallows and he's golden.)
Shiro walked Kadie and Umie back to the Kobayashi manor, and Kaede gave him a wry grin and invited him in for a sandwich. Shiro looked perplexed for a good 3-4 seconds. "But, doesn't Umie live in a different house? And didn't we have dinner just a little while ago?"
I really have to say, no matter what the player says about whether he was roleplaying or whether it was a real reaction, it was one of the most priceless reactions I've ever seen as comprehension slowly dawned on Shiro's face. If it was acting, the player deserves an Oscar.
Yeah. He went in for the sandwich.
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24-Kuthona-4707
A boneless Raesh got up at the usual hour and performed her devotions, not even minding the paladins of Iomedae taking their kohai positions behind the 2nd paladin of Absalom. Shiro enjoyed another Minkaian breakfast with Kaede and Umie in an otherwise-empty Kobayashi manor. Hi and Halek slept in, eventually tumbling down the stairs as the sun rose high in the sky.
The party bid its fond farewells to Magnimar and teleported to just outside of Sandpoint. The lookouts managed to fumble their Perception roll, so the party strolled unchallenged and unnoticed right to the Rusty Dragon. Hi was bound and determined to test the speed of Bethana's network, and so had Dimension Door prepped. The moment Bethana saw the party and her mouth formed into a large 'O' of surprise, Hi Dimension Doored to Rilka's. I was sorely tempted to make him make a roll to beat her network, but I figured I'd give him the surprise round.
It was just beginning to rain, and Rilka was pulling the laundry down as Hi arrived. She squeed, jumped into his arms, and they tumbled through the mud into the middle of the road. Hi ignored the snarky comments of, "Get a room", but Rilka promptly scolded him for his filthy clothes and declared he had to get out of them that instant. Hi did not object and she dragged him inside. He barely had time to present her with the Feather Token he'd purchased, and it was delightful when she kept saying, "It's so wonderful you gave me a way to contact you," and Hi kept saying, "It allows to to contact ANYBODY..."
The rest of the party figured they had about two hours to burn. Bethana ran upstairs and got Ameiko, and Ameiko rushed downstairs to greet the party, hugging Shiro warmly. Shiro immediately told her he'd bought her a gift, and gave her the dress. She found it absolutely lovely, and kissed Shiro in thanks. She offered the group ale, but Raesh said she would prefer tea. Shiro, elated, pulled out the teas he had bought for Ameiko and handed them to her. She smelled each in turn, and at about the fourth she smiled and said, "I know what to serve with this! Give me a few minutes!"
While Ameiko was preparing their meal, Shiro told Bethana all the juicy gossip from Magnimar. Although it was clear she had no idea who he was talking about (a dead-up 1 on Knowledge: Local by the GM), she listened raptly. About 20 minutes later, the party was enjoying fresh-baked curried scones with some fine black Minkaian tea, and describing their adventures to Bethana and Ameiko.
Then Shiro dropped the bomb. He told them that they found a magnificent library, and it was full of ancient Thassilonian recipes. He handed Ameiko the sheet of Thassilonian dishes that could be made using local ingredients, and her face lit up. "I can make these! I can make these tonight! I need to get to the market!"
Bethana was more circumspect. "A Thassilonian library? I bet Brodert would LOVE to see that!"
Realizing what he'd just done, Shiro first tried to convince Bethana that it wasn't that big a deal, and then told her she had to keep it secret, because it was far too dangerous. Raesh, nonplussed and stony-faced, took over. "Bethana. This library is dangerous. It had guardians that could kill me. It is far too dangerous for anyone to visit. You must keep the library a secret. Or people will die."
After that speech, Bethana made her Will save to keep the library secret... that day...
Once Hi and Rilka arrived at the Rusty Dragon, Shiro presented the shampoo to Rilka, and she was overjoyed. The party announced that they needed to meet the mayor about the sinkhole. Ameiko told them that there was a 'town meeting' at the cathedral, consisting of Mayor Deverin, Sheriff Hemlock, Father Zantos, Tesserel, and his clerics, addressing just that topic. The party headed over to the cathedral, yet again wondering how Turtleback Ferry got Mayor Shreed, while Sandpoint was stuck with Father Zantus.
As they arrived, the group stood and welcomed them, had them sit down, and listened to their exploits at Jorgenfist. Once they were done, Father Zantus read his carefully-prepared speech, imploring them to help with the sinkhole. Sheriff Hemlock explained that he'd lost half a dozen men to the sinkhole, and would be grateful if they'd investigate. The party immediately agreed.
GM Note: Sometimes I read the suggestions and just despair. "If the party refuses to help, Mayor Deverin can scrape together 2000 gold. If they still refuse, she can go as high as 5000 gold..." I'll just yet again express gratitude that my players aren't that mercenary. I keep saying I hand-picked them, but they point out that THEY hand-picked me. I guess that's a compliment, though I kind of stumbled in to the job...
As the meeting ended, Shiro gave the clerics the keg of ale. They were extremely grateful, and offered to meet him at the Hagfish that night. He then went over to the shrine to Shelyn and placed his holy symbol there. Hi expressed extreme concern about Brodert, but apparently he had not been in the catacombs when the earthquake hit, and was perfectly OK, although greatly disappointed that he could no longer go into the catacombs.
They headed over to the sinkhole and heard the bestial howls coming from below. They decided it would be best to check the Catacombs of Wrath first, check in on the runewell, and then investigate the sinkhole. Through the glassworks they went, and each of them had to make the 6 Will saves to resist the hounds. (Usually I complain about the 'tactics as written' when they're really silly or give the PCs a significant advantage, but getting all the Will saves out of the way early to avoid a bunch of bookkeeping later was reasonable enough that I followed the, "Hit by the howls when within 20' of the hole" approach.) At the DC of the hounds vs. the party's Will saves, only Halek failed any saves, and Raesh promptly hit him with Word of Resolve.
To avoid any light issues, Hi cast Darkvision on everyone and they proceeded. They found the room containing the runewell caved in, with the sinkhole above it and obvious tracks from Hemlock's guards coming down and heading through the catacombs to the stairs that had been blocked the last time they visited. After some discussion, they went back to the surface, gathered Tesserel and his clerics, and put them on guard in the catacombs just inside of the entrance, ensuring anything that got past the party would meet Tesserel and crew. They proceeded to the stairs down, and found they had been excavated, and the howls echoed from below.
Descending, they encountered magical webbing. Rather than burning it, Shiro cast Freedom of Movement on himself, Hi, and Halek, while Raesh used her Spider Step ability and rolled a truly obscene check to get past the webbing. At the bottom, they had little trouble finding the secret door, and, thanks to a near-TPK in the Carrion Crown game the Sunday before (thanks, Carrion Crown!), detected the Alarm before opening the door.
The next few rounds were entertaining. Shiro Dispelled the Alarm without any trouble and they opened the door, only to be faced by the dense fog. Combining the webs and the dense fog, Hi finally recognized the Guards and Wards spell, and Shiro decided to cast Greater Dispel Magic on it. Kaboom! Everything EXCEPT the fog dropped. Then Shiro used another Dispel Magic to drop the fog. Once the entire Guards and Wards was dispelled, I felt it necessary to mention that, just perhaps, whoever had put up all that fog might just notice that someone had blown it all away. (I was *really* hoping the Scribbler had a second Guards and Wards ready, because that would have been hilarious, but alas, no luck.)
Being my party, they weren't content just messing with the whole Guards and Wards theme; they sent in a Silent Image of themselves while covering themselves with an Invisibility Sphere. In spite of all his buffs, the Scribbler doesn't have any senses that would tell him about the invisible party, so he (also invisible) started asking the party (in Thassilonian) what had happened to Thassilon. To no one's suprise, the Silent Image did not answer. Hi cast Tongues so he could understand the mysterious disembodied voice just in time to hear a deep booming voice from the room beyond bellow out in Thassilonian, "That is an illusion, master! They are still invisible in the entry hall!"
I will openly admit, my bad.
Raesh rolled her Perception. Raesh spotted the Glabrezu demon. Raesh practically started drooling. The conversation didn't get any better, as Hi tried to explain Earthfall while Shiro was Hasting the party and Raesh was invoking Aura of Justice and choosing to Smite Evil on the Glabrezu's poor sorry butt. The Glabrezu was bound not to attack until the Scribbler told him to. He Did Not Appreciate This Arrangement.
So, count the squares between the entryway and the Glabrezu. You'll find it's only 15 squares. Raesh walked in a bit, pretending to still be interested in the conversation. The Glabrezu wasn't allowed to attack. The Scribbler continued rambling with Hi. Shiro waited for something cool to happen, sticking close to Raesh. Halek raged, ran all 15 squares, took the attack of opportunity, crit the Glabrezu while using Raesh's Smite Evil, and chose to auto-confirm. Fortunately for the Glabrezu, it was 'only' 170 points of pain. Hi tried to take it down with Scorching Rays, but couldn't penetrate its Spell Resistance. The Scribbler summoned 3 babau demons around Halek to cut him to shreds. Unfortunately for Glabrezu, Raesh didn't mind attacks of opportunity, either, and walked up and killed his sorry demonic butt. He didn't even get a chance to try to summon a second Glabrezu. :-(
Fortunately for the GM, the party had left poor little Hi all alone in the entryway. The Scribbler charged forward, hit him, and there was nobody anywhere near close enough to save Hi. Shiro tried with a Grease spell, but the Scribbler easily made his save. Then Raesh's player started grinning. I said, "No, you didn't!"
She said, "Yes, I did," and grinned wildly at me.
I demanded to see her prepared spell list. And there it was.
Raesh took her move action, then cast King's Castle, appearing right next to the Scribbler.
So he went from having a gnome sorcerer cornered and adjacent to him to a Smiting Evil paladin adjacent to him. Not an improvement.
The fight was ugly. While raging, Halek has over 200 hit points. By the time he was done with the baubau demons, he was down to about 30. But they were all dead. Shiro and Hi supported Halek as they could. I figured the Scribbler hadn't yet been touched, so I let him attack Raesh for a round. 3 misses for him and 134 points from Raesh and he Dimension Doored away. Thank Lamashtu for his huge Concentration bonus!
The party proceeded quickly but cautiously through the shrine and down the passage, healing Halek as they went. They found the remains of the town guards and spent the time to gather personal belongings from each one so that they could be properly buried. They passed through the kennels but did not find the dogs. At that point, they realized that the dogs had gone mysteriously silent. The passage split in two and became quite narrow. They chose to go down the left passage and I sprung my trap: 3 hounds on the front PC (Shiro) and 3 on the back (Halek). In an epic display of Tsuto-ness, the front hound double-fumbled, smacked its head against Shiro's armor, could no longer bite, and fell prone, partially blocking the other dogs. (Don't ask me how flying dogs are blocked by a prone dog, but two medium creatures can't inhabit the same square...)
Poor dog in the back got a good hit, and might have tripped a PC who didn't have a ridiculous 34 CMD at the moment. Hi got a massive Cone of Cold on the back dogs, Halek killed one, and the Scribbler, with no scrying within his own temple, teleported to the back of the party, figuring he was going to be fighting a spellcaster. He met Halek. Not the same. On the bright side, he only got smacked twice.
Raesh was torn. She was still Smiting Evil on the Scribbler, but Shiro was facing 3 Hounds of Lamashtu in a narrow corridor. Shiro assured her he could hold his own and was quite proud as she turned and went for the Scribbler. Facing Raesh and Halek, the Scribbler once again decided that discretion was in order, Dimension Doored... and blew his Concentration Check. I ask you: It's not a fumble. But you're a spellcaster standing next to the two major fighters in the group, one of whom has Smite Evil on you. Is that worth a Silver Tsuto, or does it not count because it wasn't a fumble?
Raesh muttered, "Halek, hit him."
To the entire table's astonishment, Halek missed all 3 times.
Raesh didn't. The Scribbler dropped.
On the other side, Shiro bravely fought off 3 dogs, using Windy Escape to keep himself from getting stung and managing to avoid all but minimal damage. Hi helped out with a Cone of Cold. A second Cone of Cold ended the fight on that side.
The Scribbler was healing rapidly. Raesh decided to hit him for nonlethal damage. And I had a GM call to make.
GM Note: In my mind, Smite Evil is your god providing you with divine damage to assist you in slaying the god's enemies. The Scribbler is basically a low-level avatar of Lamashtu. With my knowledge of what the Scribbler had planned, I simply had to rule that Sarenrae was going to 'just say No' to nonlethal, so I ruled that all the Smite damage was lethal.
My call was really a moot point. At the merest sign from Sarenrae that the Scribbler's life was forfeit, Raesh ceased holding back and double-crit. The Scribbler's head went running off, presumably in search of greener pastures. Raesh's armor started blazing like the sun, becoming an effective Light spell. Raesh was conflicted. The light was really annoying, but her goddess was obviously pleased with her.
With all the creatures in the area dead and the hour growing late, I hand-waved over much of their exploration. They found the Scribbler's room, Raesh failed her save against the Forbiddance, and took the damage and could not enter. GM Note: Ever since Scarwall I like the house rule that if you don't make the Will save, you don't get to go in. Raesh, determined not to be thwarted by a paltry Forbiddance, stepped in to take the damage again, and this time made her Will save. She carried poor Javen Basvear(a town guard)'s body out of the room, along with what treasure she could find. Shiro had seen several of the Scribbler's verses, and with a bit of time, they were able to piece them together: The party must travel to Lake Stormunder and locate the Runeforge.
Shiro used the ink they'd found to add a wonderful 6th verse to the walls, using his Linguistics to match the Scribbler's writing as closely as possible and earning a "Well done, Shiro." from Raesh:
This puzzle's clues are hidden here
6 stanzas strong the meaning clear
But East means West and steam is snow
Mark this well, or you'll not know
Triumphant, the party headed upstairs to meet Tesserel.
*** End of session ***
Next Planned Session: Friday, 08 March 2013. Probably an RP-only session, and I know how much my players HATE those...
WOOT!
It is amazing how much a single word can change someone's attitude.
Thank you for your WOOT!, HangarFlying. It really made my day!
All RP sessions make for a great read! I must thank you and Gluttony again for the wonderful ideas on how to make the world a fuller and more real place to play in.
08-Mar-2013 Game
OK. Wow. After the most extensive set of edits in my posting history, I'm finally allowed to get this up! Was it Raesh's first date? Alas, no; most of the discussion centered around a different paladin.
As expected, this was an exclusively role-playing session, but oh what role-playing! I'm no longer allowed to spoiler in the header (the above wasn't a spoiler, was it?), so I'll just shut up and get on with it.
The Silver Tsuto Award goes to the GM for telling the players we wouldn't need any dice this session, then asking them to roll some Diplomacy, Bluff, and teleport rolls.
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24-Kuthona-4707 (continued from last game)
GM Note: Before the session started, Shiro's player asked whether the PCs knew any of the dead guards. I pointed out that these were the same guards they'd stood watch with before the giant attack, and many of the same guards that helped them guard Sandpoint back during the goblin attacks. They not only knew them, they'd spent a great deal of time with them over the course of their time in Sandpoint. This let to a very somber mood to start the session. Exactly the way Shiro's player wanted it.
The party climbed the stairs back to the catacombs, and proceeded through Koruvus' room, and past the statue of Alaznist, not needing any light thanks to Raesh's newfound (and not much appreciated) favor with Sarenrae. They met Tesserel and his clerics. Tesserel called out, "What news of the men? What news of the depths below? I hear no more dogs!"
Hi said, "The dogs will bay no more, nor will much of anything else down there."
Raesh let Tesserel know of the temple of Lamashtu that needed consecration, and Tesserel agreed to send for clerics from Magnimar as soon as they reached the surface.
Shiro stepped slowly out from behind Raesh. His tail was dragging the ground and he had tears in his eyes as he approached Tesserel with the guards' effects. Halek walked behind Shiro carring Jaren Basvear. Tesserel's eyes widened. "I am sorry for their loss, but it is good you brought their effects. We must go to the temple and see that they are properly buried."
Shiro spoke softly, voice quavering a bit. It was apparent to all that Shiro was sad, hurt, and struggling to avoid lashing out. Shiro spoke, "I am saddened, but not for these men. They perished doing their jobs, obviously in deeper depths than they ever signed up for. They were town guards, they expected to fight goblins, or ruffians; NOT demon hounds and avatars in temples of Lamashtu. THAT is the work of a paladin. I am sad for their families, their friends, and I am afraid that we are carrying the wrong bodies. I do not claim to understand such things, but I notice that none of your clerics went with these men. Did you think that there couldn't possibly be a situation where even one cleric might have made the difference between life and death for these men? Did you feel it so safe for them that your presence wasn't required even though you could hear the bays of the hounds from the surface and they caused most men to flee in fear?" Shiro thought but did not ask; once they failed to return did you even once consider attempting a rescue? But he already knew the answer and he did not like it... His voice dropped to barely a whisper, "I do not know the ways of Iomedae, but I am certain that my paladin would have acted differently."
Tesserel looked pained. "We discussed it at length before they went in. Every attack so far has come from multiple fronts: The goblins were to attack from the east while the sinspawn came in from below. The giants attacked from all sides while a dragon attacked from above. We were worried that the baying hounds and the sinkhole were only the precursors to another attack, and we decided that my clerics and I would guard against any other attacks, while a handful of men would go down, investigate, and flee if they saw anything. They weren't supposed to face anything. We gave them spears to fend off the dogs, and told them to come up as soon as they saw anything at all. I don't know why they didn't come back."
Shiro thought long and hard. He knew that Raesh would never have sent other men to do her job for her. He knew that any member of his party would have gone after the men when they did not return. He wanted to scream at Tesserel. But he was too sad. All Shiro could manage to say in his sorrow-choked voice was, "Very well, I have effects to carry to the temple, and families to notify..." He led the group towards the surface, Halek falling in easily behind him, with Hi and a stony-faced and silent Raesh taking up the rear. The paladin and his clerics followed silently.
As they proceeded to the cathedral, word spread quickly of the fate of the guards, and there were soon 40-50 mourners following their procession, many of them weeping openly. The fact that Raesh was glowing like a daystar while Tesserel's armor looked dull and rusted did nothing to soothe Shiro's mood.
As they arrived at the cathedral, Father Zantus came out, started to say something, paled, and quickly opened the doors to allow the remains and effects to be brought in. He led the party to the altar, and had them place the effects and remains there. "It will take some time to prepare the funeral services. We will hold them this evening."
Hi hurried off to comfort Rilka. Halek volunteered to help Father Zantus prepare for the funeral. Raesh and Shiro went to see Sheriff Hemlock.
His story was similar to Tesserel's: When the sinkhole opened, the town feared the worst, but in spite of the howls, nothing had come out. Tesserel, Father Zantus, Mayor Deverin, and Sheriff Hemlock had met and decided that an exploratory party was in order to determine the extent of the sinkhole. Tesserel had pointed out the multi-faced nature of all previous attacks, and volunteered to stay on the surface and watch for other threats. Sheriff Hemlock sent six of his men down the sinkhole, with strict orders to retreat if they saw anything, anything at all. Raesh and Shiro asked how the men got past the baying hounds, and Sheriff Hemlock explained that you could get used to them after only a few minutes, and as long as you could hear them, you'd know where the hounds were. They then wondered what the men had seen, and what had lured them to their deaths. They could not have seen the same things Raesh and Shiro saw; they would not have gotten past the webs, nor would they have entered the fog. Unfortunately, the only ones who knew what happened down there were all dead, and there were no clerics powerful enough to speak with dead in the town.
Raesh headed for the cathedral to hold vigil until the funeral. Shiro, alone and depressed, wandered over to the market square. For a short while he played a sorrow-filled song on his flute, but no one noticed him. So he curled up and cried for the lost men.
Father Zantus ran the funeral with great solemnity. Each party member was allowed to put a shovelful of dirt in each grave, and everyone said their final goodbyes to the guards. Naffer Vosk added a blessing from Sarenrae to the proceedings. As soon as the ceremony was complete, Raesh returned to the shrine of Sarenrae, got on her knees, said a prayer for the men, and resumed her vigil. Halek, seeing her, nodded his approval, went to the shrine of Desna, knelt, and took up his own vigil. Shiro, sad and at a loss for what to do, took up his place at the shrine of Shelyn and held vigil along with Halek and Raesh. Hearing that Hi was about to teleport to Magnimar, Shiro asked Hi to pick up a scroll of Modify Memory, and gave him 100 platinum pieces for his troubles.
Hi teleported to the Blue Bunyip and was immediately noticed by Kaede, Umie, and Yuto. They asked whether the rest of the party was coming (Kaede and Umie seemed particularly interested in Shiro), but when Hi admitted it was only him, they sat back down. Umie's ears drooped. Hi assured Umie that Shiro would be coming back as soon as possible, and was promptly crushed in an enthusiatic hug, nearly smothering in furry cleavage. Hi went to the temple of Iomedae, carrying a note from Tesserel as to the situation in Sandpoint. Tira agreed to send three clerics to consecrate the temple, but informed Hi that they wouldn't be ready until the next morning. Hi agreed, and headed for the Blue Bunyip, reserving his room. After a great deal of urging from the other players (ahem!), Hi teleported back to Sandpoint, asked Rilka whether she would like to spend the evening at the Blue Bunyip (to quote Eric Cartman, "Hell, yes, I want to spend the evening at the Blue Bunyip!"), and teleported back to his room.
Unfortunately for Hi, his little gnome 'helper' was in the room at the time, and Rilka immediately became suspicious. She asked who the cute little gnome 'interloper' was, and Hi (and the helper) assured Rilka that she did nothing but tidy the room, and occasionally jump on the bed. Rilka demanded that she prove that claim by jumping on the bed then and there, and the gnome gladly obliged. Rilka rolled her eyes, sighed, and said, "Gnomes." She dismissed the girl, at which point Hi insisted on taking her onto the bed and forcing her to jump on it. When all was said and done, she had to admit, jumping on the bed was indeed somewhat fun.
They had a magnificent meal, soaked for well over an hour in an enormous, well-heated bath, as Rilka had her hair washed by the same woman who did Raesh's hair while Hi massaged her feet, then they retired for the evening.
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25-Kuthona-4707
At dawn, Shiro's stomach growled. He stood up from his vigil with his spirits much higher. Having paid his respects, and mourned for the dead he headed outside, and walked towards the Rusty Dragon. As he walked, he heard Shalelu fall into step beside him. Shiro was gladdened by her presence and he managed a weak smile. She asked about recent events, and was concerned that the townsfolk had not thought to consult her on the sinkhole. Shiro asked her whether she might teach him some survival skills in the woods, and with a wry smile she agreed to do so whenever he had the time. She then chided him about his slow pace, asking how he ever got anywhere. With an honest smile Shiro replied, "Oh, I CAN walk faster; I just prefer the view from back here." With that he earned a smile and she walked ahead for a bit with an obviously exaggerated wiggle of her hips before she fell back into step with him, arm and arm, where she stayed until they were nearly in sight of their destination. They arrived at the Rusty Dragon as breakfast was being served, and Ameiko welcomed them both, hugging and kissing Shiro, before they tucked in to a hearty breakfast.
Back at the cathedral, Raesh finished her vigil and performed her morning devotions. She noticed that Halek, Tesserel, and his clerics were outside either practicing (Halek) or praying (the rest). There was no Shiro. Precisely one hour after sunrise, Hi, Rilka, and three clerics teleported into the area in front of the temple, narrowly missing Tesserel and company. Raesh came out of the temple, noted that everyone was there except Shiro, and, deciding that if he wasn't there it was a conscious choice on his part, said, "Well, let us go then."
Tesserel stopped at the entrance to the glassworks and suggested that perhaps he and his clerics should guard the surface, in case the other clerics' activities might stir something up. Raesh gave Tesserel a piercing gaze, but said nothing, and went downstairs with Halek, Hi, and the three clerics of Iomedae.
Without even having to make Shiro roll Knowledge: Local, Bethana crit her gossip roll and announced to the room that Raesh et al. had headed down to clear the temple. Shiro, hearing that he had been excluded, was hurt. He had really expected to be summoned when needed; and deep down was suddenly aware that he was not...
As Raesh, Hi, and Halek played tour guide, and the clerics moved through the area, the clerics used Detect Magic extensively. They Consecrated the upstairs temple, had Halek smash the bath of Lamashtu and a few other things, and Consecrated the downstairs temple. They suggested that the party destroy all the Scribbler's writings on the wall, but admitted they were non-magical and were not a conduit of Lamashtu at the moment. Finally, they reached the area with Forbiddance cast on it, and hilarity ensued as the first cleric failed to Dispel Evil, the second fumbled and fell into the Forbiddance (not quite dying and giving Raesh time to heal him), and the third crit and dispelled the Forbiddance.
The party (minus Shiro) returned upstairs, and the clerics offered to spend the day in Sandpoint in case anything else came up. Raesh and Halek, exhausted and hungry, and Hi, a gnome, headed for the Rusty Dragon for breakfast.
The scene at the Rusty Dragon was tense. Raesh pointedly sat down to breakfast alone, commenting that *she* had not yet eaten and was quite hungry after a long night. Shiro brought Raesh breakfast (with no small help from Bethana), then sat and pondered silently as the rest of the party ate. Shiro occasionally stole choice bits of food from everyone's plate, except Halek's and Hi's, finding his fork would become too hot to hold everytime he reached for anything on Hi's plate. He had learned long ago not to eat Halek's food, as it did not taste anything like food.
After breakfast, Shiro took Bethana aside and told her that he would really like to modify her memory, both to protect the library and to protect her. An epic 1 Diplomacy roll had Bethana terrified that Shiro was trying to wipe her mind. Shiro went to Raesh for help. With a 28 Diplomacy roll, Raesh quickly convinced Bethana that a memory modification spell was for the best. They carefully modified her memory, replacing "Jorgenfist" with "Magnimar" so Bethana believed the library of Thassilonian recipes was in Magnimar. They made a note to themselves to add a book of recipes to the archives in the library in Magnimar to complete the fabrication.
Once his library debacle was as cleaned up as it was likely to ever be, Shiro sought out one of the higher level clerics of Iomedae who had helped with the consecrations. He offered the simple remark that perhaps, Tesserel was in need of guidance and left the situation to be resolved between Tesserel, his cleric, and Iomedae. Shiro made a mental note that he now knew one paladin he would not trust with his life...
With all their major conflicts out of the way, they ordered a picnic lunch from Ameiko, summoned Phantom Steeds, and rode to Thistletop to check on Yippy and their bunny farm. Shalelu admitted that she'd been feeding Yippy less as of late, so he had gone from morbidly obese to not-quite-so morbidly obese, and there were many jokes made about diet bunyip chow. Arriving at Thistletop, the party found that the bunnies had made much headway in clearing the thistles, and they were able to get to Yippy's hole with ease. There were only a pair of paltry goblin corpses on the rocks around Yippy, and he barked expectantly at them. Raesh Levitated down, rolled an excellent Animal Handling check, and scratched Yippy behind the ear, muttering, "Who's a good Bunyip?"
She offered to let anyone else visit Yippy who wanted to, so Shiro, trusting Raesh entirely, stepped unsecured into the hole. She cast Feather Fall and then Levitate on him, Shiro made his Animal Handling, and he got to scratch Yippy as well. They fed him a goblin hand, bade their farewells, and had a picnic at Thistletop. Raesh gathered some flowers, and the party headed back for Sandpoint.
On the way back to the Rusty Dragon, Raesh approached Shalelu. She handed her the flowers, saying, "Thank you for all you have done for me. I will always remember you, no matter where my path takes me." She gave Shelalu a kiss on the cheek. Seeing this Shiro was overcome with joy for reasons only he could comprehend and he smiled widely. The rest of the party was perplexed, but said nothing.
The evening was relaxing: The party had an excellent dinner at the Rusty Dragon, Hi retired with Rilka, Halek retired for a 'bath', Shiro retired with Ameiko, and Raesh retired alone.
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26-Kuthona-4707
In the morning, once Halek finished his exercises and Raesh finished her devotions, Shiro, Hi, and Raesh teleported to Jorgenfist; they left Halek behind so they could bring the acolytes of Abadar back to Magnimar. Hi misfired on his teleport and they ended up in the middle of the Storval Plateau, but a second teleport got them to Jorgenfist and they checked in with the acolytes. Hi teleported them back to Magnimar and returned to Jorgenfist, then Dimension Doored the party down to the library. At the library, Hi repaired the clockwork librarian with Raesh drawing on her toymaking skills in order to assist. Meanwhile, Shiro suggested that Black Magga needed to be dealt with in order to liberate the people of Turtleback Ferry. At Raesh's suggestion, he researched Black Magga while she and Hi worked. After extensive research, Shiro and Raesh decided that they weren't quite ready to deal with Black Magga yet. Since Hi was out of teleports, they spent the night in the library. Shiro slept on his own couch.
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27-28-Kuthona-4707
The party teleported to Sandpoint, picked up Halek, and teleported to Galduria. Once again Hi's teleport malfunctioned, this time dropping them well out to sea in a salt water ocean... Shiro began to question if Hi were actually teleporting them random places as a practical joke as he plunged into the salt water and began to flounder. His fur soaked up the water as he watched Raesh casually levitate both herself (after rolling an epic 3 on her swim check) and then him (saving him from choking on any more sea water). Halek treaded water casually (with a modified swim check of over 30!) and Hi teleported once again, this time with what would appear to be more accuracy, though Shiro was not so certain. They had finally arrived at Galduria where they picked up their horses and the spellbook that had been waiting for them there for over a week. They spent the next few hours cleaning saltwater out of their gear. In an act of kindness that can never truly be repaid, Raesh spent a great deal of time helping Shiro groom his fur, particularly his tail. The matted fur and saltwater crust was difficult to clean, snarled, and if not for Raesh's wonderful conditioner (purchased from the Blue Bunyip), very painful to comb out. He was obviously touched by her actions. The party spent the next few days riding back to Sandpoint. Each night Shiro changed into a tiny fox and curled up next to Raesh, content and safe.
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29-Kuthona-4707
The party arrived in Sandpoint around 4:00 pm and headed straight for the Goblin Squash stables. Raesh approached Daviren Hosk, and admitted that Shadowmist was a magnificent animal, but she could simply not do him justice and feared for his safety in her keeping. She was hoping that he could care for Shadowmist, and help him find an owner better suited to horses. She paid Daviren 5 platinum pieces for his troubles, and he could do nothing but gape and gasp. She petted Shadowmist sadly on the nose one last time, "Who's a good horse?" As Shiro and Hi also turned in their horses (or ponies, as the case may be), giving him 5 platinum apiece, he was speechless. Shiro asked that his horse be sent to Turtleback Ferry to help with the rebuilding there. Daviren assured Shiro it would be done. Hi turned over ownership of his pony to Rilka, and paid 5PP to cover boarding of the pony at the GS stable for the next few years, or however long 5PP would cover. Once the horses were safely stabled, the party teleported to the Blue Bunyip.
Much to Shiro's dismay, Kousei was setting up to play. To his even greater dismay, on seeing Shiro he packed up his things and headed right out the door! The party bathed, Raesh exchanged her plate armor for her leathers, and they all came down for dinner only to find Kaede performing in the common room and Umie performing in the dining hall. As they sat down to dinner, Kaede joined them at the table.
After a few minutes of small talk, the front doors of the Blue Bunyip flew open. In strode Yuto, but nothing like the Yuto they knew. From his polished leather boots to his skintight trousers to his shining white ruffled shirt and black cape with green trim he screamed 'nobility'. In his teeth was a single, perfect purple rose, exactly matching the hue of Raesh's skin. The rooms went silent as he strode forward purposefully, knelt at Raesh's feet, presented her the rose, and announced, "Rae'Sheleth. I was wondering whether you would do me the honor of being my date tonight?"
The party sat, stunned. Raesh's eyes grew bigger than dinner plates. As Hi quipped, "I could even see the whites of her eyes! They were THAT BIG!" Raesh managed to speak, "Ok."
"Excellent!" Yuto offered Raesh his arm, and as she took it, he swept her off into the Alabaster district. He headed straight for the Pediment building, and took her to the council's dining hall, where his father had a private booth. Raesh remained stunned throughout dinner. Yuto tried to make conversation, and was both delighted and chagrined at Raesh's discomfiture. "Raesh, it's me. It's just plain old Yuto! I thought I'd show you a grand night on the town! C'mon! Have some food! Cheer up! It's really very good, you know!" Raesh looked around, completely out of her element and praying for something to show up that she could smite. Unable to think of anything to say, she instead chewed on a bite of her very fine meal.
After his hopeless attempt at dinner, Yuto offered to take Raesh to a play. This was something she was far more accustomed to, so Yuto took her off to the Magnimar theater. Similar to Ameiko, his family had their own private box, and he and Raesh watched the play together. He bought her an exotic citrus drink, but she barely tasted it.
Late in the evening, after Shiro had headed off to make 'sandwiches' with Kaede and Umie, Halek had retired for a 'bath', and Hi had retired with Rilka, Yuto returned Raesh to the Blue Bunyip. She tried to apologize for being less-than-ideal company, but Yuto shushed her and offered her a massage. She declined, so he swept off his hat, bent down, kissed her hand as best he could in his kitsune form, and bid her good night, sweeping out the doorway. Raesh retired, still stunned and speechless, to her bedroom.
*** End of session ***
Next Planned Session: Friday, 15 March 2013. Amusingly enough, I was going to skip a week because I've been asked to run our long-defunct Kingmaker session on Saturday, but Raesh's player simply cannot wait that long to see what Yuto does next.... (Yeah; I'm teasing her. I believe Shiro's player said, "Now that's not fair," when I told him there'd be a 1-week hiatus.)
WOOT to you, too, HF!
Looks like my summaries managed to miss Shiro taking Yuto aside and suggesting that, if he was interested, he should ask Raesh out. I warned Shiro's player that Yuto would most certainly take him up on that, and Shiro's player just cackled and said, "Good!"
So the date thing wasn't as out-of-left-field as it looks like in the post...
WOOT to you, too, HF!
Looks like my summaries managed to miss Shiro taking Yuto aside and suggesting that, if he was interested, he should ask Raesh out. I warned Shiro's player that Yuto would most certainly take him up on that, and Shiro's player just cackled and said, "Good!"
So the date thing wasn't as out-of-left-field as it looks like in the post...
With the frequency of the massages I was wondering when he was going to make a move. It will be interesting to see how he cracks/melts/drills through that tough drow force field against intimacy.
LOL. Since my players read this thread, I can't spoiler anything 'til after tomorrow night (Waaaaah!). All I can say is what I've been telling my players. "Oh, Yuto has PLANS...."
Yuto has plans.
Sexy, sexy plans.
The very best kind of plans!
Another great read as always, NH. I really enjoy the amount of detail you put into your campaign journals. What's your process of writing them up? Do you keep notes about significant events during the session, or is it all from memory, and then corroborated with your players?
Also, other than your in-line ideas as to what went wrong with the giants' attack on Sandpoint, do you have any other suggestions - looking back on it - as to how you would improve that encounter? I've an archer paladin in my group, so I fear he'll basically shred Longtooth before the dragon even realises it.
Yuto has plans.
Sexy, sexy plans.
The very best kind of plans!
Another great read as always, NH. I really enjoy the amount of detail you put into your campaign journals. What's your process of writing them up? Do you keep notes about significant events during the session, or is it all from memory, and then corroborated with your players?
Also, other than your in-line ideas as to what went wrong with the giants' attack on Sandpoint, do you have any other suggestions - looking back on it - as to how you would improve that encounter? I've an archer paladin in my group, so I fear he'll basically shred Longtooth before the dragon even realises it.
Surprisingly enough, I have an excellent memory for what happens during a game. Why is it surprising? Because if you were to walk up and introduce yourself to me, I'd forget your name in under 30 seconds. Weird brain, mine.
However, I do find that I get my days mixed up, so I have a calendar and I jot quick notes. The entirety of my notetaking for 25-Kuthona was: "Got up. Cleaned temple. Bethana spilled. Visited Thistletop." That's enough to spur my memory.
Many times that's enough, but this session in particular had a great deal of Shiro/Raesh interaction, and Shiro's player literally added several paragraphs, while Raesh's added quite a few sentences. That's really unusual; usually the total edits are under 10 sentences.
So I type up what I recall, I send it to Shiro's, Hi's, and Raesh's players, they edit it in turn, and then I add the tagging and post the final result. All very efficient. And hopelessly loopy, considering we spend a good 8 hours a week playing and I spend another 3-4 on the journal!
My first suggestion on the giant attack: DON'T give the party the suggested DC 30 Perception roll. One of the main reasons my party made such a mockery of everything was that they knew how many giants were coming, and didn't try to conserve any resources. So have them come in by surprise, and have them come in faster. (Maybe subtract 1 round from group 2, 2 rounds from group 3, and so forth.) If the party thinks it's going to be a long, drawn-out assault, they may conserve resources and thus do less damage. Perhaps fighting classes generated less damage in 3.5, but giants just don't last nearly as long as you'd think they would when you've got any fighting class using Power Attack and a two-handed weapon, so unless the giants come in faster, you're just going to see, "Bang! Group 1 is dead. Dimension Door. Bang! Group 2 is dead. Dimension Door..."
Unless your group's arcane caster is as silly as our Carrion Crown one, and chose not to get Dimension Door, of course...
Unfortunately, if you have an archer paladin, Longtooth is dead. Period. Unless you do something really cheesy ("Yes, he's an arrogant red dragon, but he flies in Invisibly and Silenced and flanks the party, because he knows they're there..."), or make sure there's a giant next to the paladin at all times.
If you don't have a journal, at least PM me the results -- I'm interested in seeing whether speeding things up causes a disaster, or makes it more exciting. Even without the Perception roll, I think my group would have wiped the walls with the giants. With neither Dimension Door nor the Perception roll, it would have been Bad.
EDIT: Due to circumstances beyond our control (not bad this time), the Saturday Kingmaker game has been canceled. I have been duly informed that I will be GM'ing both Friday AND Saturday.
Have I ever mentioned that I love my players?
This actual play journal, along with a Kingmaker one elsewhere, have inspired me to invest in an Adventure Path forthwith, and inflict it on my group whenever our current GM decides he needs a break. You have an awesome party, and I am jealous of your fun.
This actual play journal, along with a Kingmaker one elsewhere, have inspired me to invest in an Adventure Path forthwith, and inflict it on my group whenever our current GM decides he needs a break. You have an awesome party, and I am jealous of your fun.
Well, thank you! Just be extremely careful to do your research and decide which AP will fit your GM'ing style. I have been a complete failure as a GM for Kingmaker because I just had no fun at all with the "wander around randomly and fight wandering monsters" aspect of it -- I need cities full of NPCs to interact with the players. I've had a blast with both Crimson Throne (I have a MUCH less elaborate journal in that thread somewhere) and RotRL because they're city-based. Pick what you like to GM, and plan to spend a few hours a week of prep time anyway; the APs make it easier, but not "open a book and run" easy. (Which had been my naive hope when I first opened Crimson Throne, but nowadays I love prep work because I can work with how I know the PCs will react to situations.)
And don't hesitate to post a journal, even if it's just your session notes. You'll find the posters on the AP threads a ludicrously friendly bunch, and happy to lend a hand with advice, maps, or other game aids.
Happy GM'ing!
P.S. Now that they're there, I can mention that I have swept the PCs off to an out-of-book side quest in Absalom. That's the other thing I like about the APs -- you can find good break points and take them offroading for a while in your own mini-campaigns. Yeah, they'll be a level too high to start Module 5, but it'll balance out in the end...
I'm afraid there will be a delay in our regularly-scheduled updates (and games) as the universe (i.e., the GM) has been bedridden for the last 48 hours with a particularly nasty virus.
Games did happen on Friday AND Saturday, and I'll post the updates as I become strong enough to sit upright for more than a few minutes... probably out to the group Thursday-ish, and up here Friday-ish. Sorry for the delay!
(And yes, I posted to the obits, and no, it had nothing to do with this group. What can I say? I love a spectacularly silly PC death as much as the next GM...)
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15-Mar-2013 Game
While we played two sessions over the weekend, both were fairly short (maybe 4 hours on Friday and 2.5 on Saturday), but in keeping with previous posts, I'll post them separately.
I'm afraid there was no Silver Tsuto Award for Friday's session; most of the evening was a tour of Magnimar, and the one fight at the end was epically one-sided, but fumbles had nothing to do with it.
Speaking of tours of Magnimar, most of this session was Yuto taking them on a tour of the districts, which some might read as, "The GM reading the Guide to Magnimar to the players." I am extremely pleased to report that my players were VERY happy with the tour, and the couple of times I offered to shorten it they said, "No, no! This is great!"
I know I've said it far too many times, but I love my players.
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30-Kuthona-4707
Raesh awoke a few minutes before dawn, donned her armor, and opened the door to head to her devotions. Outside the door stood a vase with the other 11 drow-colored roses, and a note from Yuto: "Rae'Sheleth. Thank you for your exquisite company last evening. I hope that you will allow me to take you somewhere more to your comfort this evening. If you are willing to see me again, please wear one of these roses as a token that I might visit you again."
Raesh thought long and hard. Finally, sighing, she plucked a single rose, fastened it to her cloak, and headed for her devotions. Halek came out of his room and followed her, as usual. If he noticed the rose, he said nothing of it.
Shiro awoke shortly after dawn, climbed out of the tangle of fur and tails, dressed, and rushed towards the Blue Bunyip. He quickly realized that Raesh had already departed, so he headed for the temple of Iomedae, where he saw Raesh and many paladins and clerics of Iomedae performing their morning devotions. As usual, Raesh was being given a position of great honor. Shiro wanted to practice next to Raesh, as he had in the past, but realized this was no longer acceptable. He glanced around, noticed Halek practicing his weapon work about 100' from the prayers, and joined him until Raesh was done.
As they headed back to the Blue Bunyip, Shiro noticed the rose on Raesh's cloak. He smiled, but said nothing.
As the party dined, Shiro again stole tidbits from his companions. After losing a few choice bites, Raesh silently pushed her plate over to Shiro, offering him his pick from her breakfast and realizing full well that this would take all the fun out of swiping her meal. Shiro frowned at this, and declined. Feeling that his antics were no longer appreciated, he made a mental note that he wasn't to steal any more food from the rest of the group. Raesh reclaimed her plate and resumed eating, leaving Shiro with a dour look as he picked over his own breakfast.
Hi and Rilka appeared, Hi obviously having been woken up far before his usual hour by the enthusiastic Rilka. She sat at Halek's table and seemed a bit alarmed at the "food" being served at the Bunyip. Shiro reassured her, quite rudely grabbed Raesh's plate, and presented it to Rilka. Raesh glowered at Shiro and speared a sausage from his plate. Before the situation could escalate, the waiters at the Bunyip restored Raesh's plate to her, put a plate of "real" food in front of Rilka, and ensured Hi was fed as well.
As breakfast was concluding, Yuto swept in, looking far more like the Yuto they knew and loved. Behind him trailed Kaede and Umie, Umie toiling under the load of a massive picnic basket. Before anyone could say a word, Halek was out of his seat and had swept the picnic basket out of Umie's arms and onto his. If anyone thought that the sight of a Shoanti barbarian with pink frilly gloves smelling of lilac and a picnic basket was amiss, none dared to speak up.
Yuto spoke. "My friends. I realize that you are very busy doing important business like saving the world. But while you have visited Magnimar many times, you have never seen the true Magnimar. My brethren and I would like to take you on a tour of Magnimar so you can see the 'real' city, instead of just the shopping districts and the Alabaster district. There is so much to explore! What say you? Will you come with us and learn more about Magnimar today? And maybe have another picnic with us?"
The party couldn't refuse such an offer, especially with Rilka tugging at Hi's arm asking, "Can we go? Can we? Please," so they agreed to come with the kitsune. And thus began the Grand Tour of Magnimar (significantly abbreviated because it's almost all from the Guide to Magnimar, but key points included):
Yuto first took them through the Alabaster District, the wealthiest district in Magnimar. In particular, he pointed out the Serpent's Run as a location that hosted races, bullfighting, hydra baiting, mock naval battles, and other events, though the owner took great pride in the fact that he held no bloodsports, defined as "two sentient beings battling to the death". Yuto pointed out that the next day would be New Year's Eve, and would have a spectacular naval battle for the masses. The party couldn't decide on whether or not they would be available to attend, so Yuto did not press for tickets. He also pointed out Heidmarch Manor, the home of the local Pathfinders. When the party learned that the Pathfinders were mainly interested in recovering artifacts for their own ownership and display, they decided they weren't that interested in them. "True" heroes would find the rightful owners and return the artifacts to them.
Below the Alabaster District was the Capital District, including the zoo, archives, guilds, golemworks, the top of the irespan, the Pediment building and the Hells below, and the street of taverns. The party spent a few moments at the zoo to talk with the nagaji zookeeper (a PC from another campaign who they had met at the on their first trip to Magnimar while he was fleeing a false charge that he was responsible for a brutal murder), but otherwise moved through the district fairly quickly. Yuto introduced them to the first two major monuments of Magnimar: The Cenotaph was a cylindrical monument to Alcaydian Indros; the paladin of Aroden who many view as the original founder of Magnimar. While the monument was originally a glorified tomb to Alcaydian, many noble families insisted that their families be entombed there as well, turning it into a massive tomb of the nobility of Magnimar. Yuto explained that if you were to pray at the Cenotaph for 10 minutes and ponder the nature of the deities (a DC 15 Knowledge: Religion check), you would be more resistant to disease and poison for the day. (+1 on all Fort saves.) The other monument was the Indros cul Vydrach, a marble sculpture depicting the battle between Alcadian and the vydrarch (a massive two-headed aquatic aberration) that tried to destroy Magnimar in its infancy. Yuto explained that if you could recite the poem commemorating this event in Aquan well enough (DC 15 Perform: Act, Oratory, or Sing), you would do additional damage against aquatic creatures for the day.
The final district of the upper city was Naos, with which the party was already intimately familiar, as it included the temples of Abadar and Iomedae, as well as the Blue Bunyip. Yuto showed them additional sites of note, including the triodea (a theater capable of putting on 3 performances at once, and the one Yuto had taken Raesh to the night before) and the Kaijitsu villa, abandoned for many years. Shiro was sad to hear that the Kaijitsu villa was abandoned, and remarked he would talk to Ameiko about it. The barrage of questions from Umie and Kaede as to who this Ameiko was and her relationship to Shiro caught him entirely off guard. Luckily for him, before he could stammer out any kind of explaination, Raesh stepped up and told them about Ameiko, her relationship with the group as a whole and a bit of their previous interactions. She managed to leave out anything to do with silk ropes, late nights, or alone time with Shiro. Raesh could not have missed the thankful look on Shiro's face.
Yuto led them to the House of Welcome, the 'brothel' where Kaede's mother Hiriko Kobayashi acted as a geisha/hostess. Shiro immediately asked whether they could meet her. Yuto knocked at the door, and Hiriko herself answered. Since business was light in the morning hours, she was able to show the party to a table in the public area and she herself served tea to them before settling down to chat a bit. The party noticed that she treated Halek more like a porter or servant than one of the party members, and sat him a bit apart from the rest, but Halek seemed perfectly happy in his isolation, so the party didn't object. Realizing that this was one of the best establishments of its kind, Shiro asked Hiriko if there was any chance he could spend some time here learning to be a courtesan. After seeing the actions of a certain other kitsune bard in the process of courting a girl, he felt that his self-taught bard training may be lacking in this arena. Hiriko smiled and replied, "Of course". If Kaede or Umie had any thoughts on the subject they remained unspoken.
After a pleasant visit with Hiriko, they visited the Arvensoar, home of Magnimar's military, and learned its history: When the original settlers arrived, the local Varisians asked them to settle south of the river, as the area north of the river was sacred to them. All refused, save Ordellia Whilwren, who agreed to move south of river if she saw an angel. The Varisians told her to watch a tall spire for a week. At the end of the week, an angel appeared to her, so Ordellia agreed to move all of her followers south of the river. One year later, storms threatened to destroy the city, and Ordellia returned to the spire to pray to the angel to deliver the city. A huge bolt of lightning destroyed the spire, but also dispersed the storm. The city built Arvensoar as monument to that event. It took 18 years of united effort between the settlers and the Varisians, and stands as a symbol of their cooperation.
Yuto got a mischievous gleam in his eye as he led them to the next monument: Founder's Flame was a magical fountain of flame built by Antholus Kaddren, a wizard who had sacrificed his life to drive off an invading fleet. Yuto explained that anyone who meditated on the flames for 10 minutes, then pondered the nature of magic itself (DC 15 Spellcraft) would have more powerful flame spells all day. Hi immediately sat down, meditated, and gained the boon.
Their final stop in Naos was the Guardians: Two 200-foot tall colossi of the Vanderales, twin wizards who had prevented an invasion of Magnimar from the Irespan, holding burning staves to form an arch. Yuto explained that meditating on the flames for 10 minutes and thinking about the arcane (DC 15 Knowledge: Arcana) would grant the boon of better concentration when casting spells.
As the party walked down the path to Dockway, Yuto, Kaede, and Umie switched to human form. Yuto explained that the lower city wasn't always safe, and Raesh frowned a bit. "You will be safe with us."
Yuto resumed his kitsune form, but both girls remained human. Yuto explained that they wouldn't be going to Underbridge quite yet, because what he wanted them to see was most spectacular at sunset. They headed south into Dockway. The party was already intimately familiar with the Bazaar of Sails, so they ran amok, and much shopping was done.
- While Shiro distracted Rilka with some juicy local gossip, Hi purchased her a wand of Unseen Servant so she could take some time off whenever she wanted.
- Shiro, feeling the pressure of another kitsune bard 10 years his senior, chose to spend money to upgrade all of his instruments to masterwork quality; something he had not done in the past.
- Raesh window-shopped, but did not purchase anything.
Yuto pointed out two additional monuments: The Eyes of the Hawk, a statue of the twin wizards Cailyn and Romre Vanderale who fought off shriezyx (spiderlike creatures) who poured out of the irespan when it was breached in 4623, and the Fifth Wind, a massive stone weather vane carved with complex images of cloud dragons and air elementals in battle. Both Raesh and Shiro were particularly interested in the Fifth Wind's boon of preventing seasickness.
They moved on to Lowcleft, which seemed almost deserted. (I told the players, "Imagine Las Vegas at 11:00 am.") Once they'd explored Lowcleft a bit, they reached the park they'd picnicked in before, and Yuto and the girls set out another picnic, Halek following dutifully in tow, picnic basket in arm. Yuto showed them the Mapstone Monument, a miniature scale model of Magnimar, the Celwynian Charge, a giant stone tree grown as a gift from the Mierani elves, and Our Lady of the Blessed Waters, the water nymph statue in the fountain they'd seen the last time they picnicked there.
While most of the party was familiar with Keystone, Shiro started recognizing neighborhoods immediately. The Kobayashis and Mikunes lived along the "Silver Shore" along with many other diplomats. Yuto revealed their secret when he showed the party Founder's Honor, a 50' tall statue of Alcaydian Indros that granted increased diplomacy to anyone leaving fruits or flowers. Needless to say, many diplomats stopped at the statue on their way to the Pediment building every morning.
Their next stop was Beacon's point, a district of warehouses, piers, good taverns, and good brothels along the rim, with tightly-packed slums inside. They spent little time there, but Yuto did show them the Battle of Charda, a statue of the battle in which Antholus Kaddren lost his life, commemorating his valiant effort when Riddleport attacked Magnimar with 5 charmed chardas. He sacrificed his own life to break the charm, free the chardas, and turn them on their masters. As soon as the party learned that the boon would be granted to anyone who practiced weapons for 10 minutes and made an Intimidate check, they insisted that Halek try. Halek succeeded, but not nearly as well as Shiro, who can be amazingly intimidating when he puts his mind to it!
The party then crossed the river, over the island harboring the Sevens Sawmill, and moved into Ordellia. While Yuto was in the middle of telling the history of Ordellia, and how it was practically a separate city from Magnimar, and boasted the highest non-human population of any district by far, a group of dwarves spotted Raesh. They immediately started yelling hostilities and approached the party. Raesh tried to smooth things over with them, but Shiro stuck his tongue out at them, and then began singing the bawdy dwarven drinking song he'd learned so long ago. The dwarves were incensed, and went for their weapons...
...and it might have been a sticky situation if Halek hadn't crit his Initiative. Halek was smart enough to hit for nonlethal damage. He wasn't smart enough to hold back. The lead dwarf crumpled in a senseless heap, obviously bleeding in several places. Hi, realizing that most of his favorite spells would do leathal damage, just used Drench on one of the dwarves and waited to see what the other dwarves would do, ready to respond should the situation escalate. Yuto performed Inspire Courage. Shiro, somewhat taken back by the presence of another bard doing what was normally his job, quickly walked up to the dwarves and made a ludicrous Diplomacy roll (38, I think?) to convince them that he had only been trying to be friendly, and meant no offense. Raesh channeled Positive Energy, both to heal the stricken dwarf and to prove to the dwarves just whose side she was on. Grumbling and muttering that they'd be back in greater numbers, the dwarves stormed off.
The rest of Ordellia was far more pleasant: Yuto told them about the Rose and Rake, the local theater that specialized in political satire, and that it was doing a 'biography' of the mayor that evening. Yuto asked Raesh if she might accompany him, if such satire would not offend her. "A satirical biography of the mayor? I believe I would find that... acceptable."
Yuto believed he caught a slight glimpse of drow fang in a possible smile.
Through the entire conversation, Shiro's eyes were growing bigger and bigger, until they looked like dinner plates and Shiro looked ready to explode! Shiro begged Raesh if he could come with them. Raesh looked at him. "No."
"But, why!?!!?!"
"Because you picked a fight with dwarves."
Shiro's tail plummeted to the ground. His ears drooped. Raesh relented. "I am kidding. Of course you can come, Shiro."
Shiro's tail and ears flew back up, and he was all happiness.
A few blocks later, Yuto pulled out a purple handkerchief and insisted on blindfolding Raesh. She reluctantly agreed, much to her companion's amazement. Raesh wasn't one to casually allow herself to be blinded. Hi and Shiro watched extremely carefully as Yuto led them down the street, then came upon the windows: Dozens, if not hundreds of elaborate mechanical toys lined every shelf of a massive toy shop. As they walked past, Raesh could hear the whirring and clicking of gears, and started to get an inkling as to where they were heading. Yuto removed the blindfold at the entrance to Pug's Contraptions, finest toy shop in all of Magnimar. The party went bazonkers (yes, that is a technical term).
As the rest of the party sought out various doodads, whatsits, and gifts for anyone they could think of, Raesh approached Morgamer Pug, showed him her toolkit, and asked him whether he could replace the chisel Aldern had stolen. Pug asked a few questions ("Regular or masterwork? Best match or best fit for your hands?" etc.), went in back, and brought a chisel that was exactly the correct size, and had a decent resemblance to the others in her kit. When Raesh tried to pay, Morgamer pointed at her party members shopping for all they were worth, and insisted the chisel was on the house, as long as she would show him some of the things she'd made.
Raesh was abashed. She did not want to show her work to a master toysmith, but Shiro wouldn't have it. He reached into his pack pulled out the little fox merry-go-round she had made for him that he always carried, and presented it to Morgamer. Morgamer was impressed, heaped praise on Raesh, and asked to see other work. Soon, Halek's pull-firepelt and Hi's gnome cannon were out and being examined. And finally, with great reluctance, Raesh pulled out her bath bunyip and let Morgamer examine it. He was absolutely delighted, and offered to take Raesh on as an apprentice immediately. Much to his disappointment, she politely declined the offer. But as they departed, Morgamer told her that if she ever reconsidered, he'd be happy to take her on based on just the work he'd seen so far.
Their final stop in Ordellia was the Mistress of Angels, a marble statue of Ordellia herself. They paid their respects and, as the hour was getting late, headed for Underbridge.
Yuto's warnings to the party that Underbridge was dangerous were unnecessary; they all remembered the Scarecrow and Xanesha, and knew that other things might dwell here. All of the kitsune switched to human form, and the group traveled closely together, with Yuto and Raesh in the front, and Halek bringing up the rear. As they proceeded, they could see folk scurrying away, whether just to get away or to inform their masters no one could tell. Yuto led them to the eastern edge of underbridge, to an abandoned house with three graves in its large yard. He led them in just as the sun was setting.
The moment Raesh entered, the building came to life: It was a shrine to Sarenrae, abandoned for many years after the original cleric and his acolytes had been murdered by Sczarni thugs. The decorations glowed of their own accord, and as the sunset hit the building everything was lit with an unearthly radiance. Yuto spoke, "I knew you needed to see this place Rae'Sheleth. You are Second Paladin of Absalom. Even if you don't care for the title, you could send clerics here to restore this shrine. Sarenrae knows Underbridge could use a little light."
Raesh was silent as the sun set, and darkness overtook the building once again.
Yuto muttered, "Now let's get the hell out of here."
Unfortunately, as they left the building, both Shiro and Raesh saw that it was too late. A group of Shoanti stood at the head of the road, blocking their exit, and as Raesh and Shiro watched, one of them sent groups to either side to flank them. Three Shoanti approached them head on up the road. Many more were in the rubble around them. Shiro noticed Halek vibrating with rage, barely containing himself. Raesh was certain that Hi would do so on his own, but just in case ordered "Hi, teleport our friends back to the Blue Bunyip!" Hi immediately took Umie, Rilka, and Kaede and teleported to the Blue Bunyip. Proof positive of Hi's intentional mis-teleports? He didn't roll over a 20 on d100 teleporting around during a fight. Raesh cast Instant Armor and activated her shield ring.
Back at Underbridge, Yuto cast Haste and started performing Inspire Courage, leaving Shiro once again to consider what to do. Raesh invoked her bonded weapon for the first time ever and chose Flaming Burst. The lead Shoanti said something to Raesh. And Halek completely lost it, raging forward and pummeling him into a bloody mess. Raesh could tell that Halek planned to continue pounding the unconscious man and snapped, "Halek, deal with the ones who can fight. We must defend our friend."
Nine more Shoanti poured out of the rubble on the vastly-reduced party, bringing the total to 12 (one of whom was less-than-frisky). In an epic display of complete hopelessness, I rolled an 8 or lower nine times, with the two in front not quite able to reach the party on the first round. Then Shiro, knowing nothing else to do, swallowed hard and started a Dirge of Doom. The party had never seen him use his music offensively and it was apparent that Shiro both liked it, and was a bit afraid to do so for that very reason. He grinned a mischievous grin as he realized that their opponent's utter incompetence went much better with music. Raesh started marching down one side of the line, whomping some major critical mojo on the thugs. (I do not have a better way to put it. She simply could not stop criticalling! Every single Shoanti she fought got hit by at least one crit. Many by double or even triple crits. It was ugly. Raesh enjoyed it.) The flashes from her flaming-burst bonded weapon lit up the night. On the other side, Halek worked the other half of the Shoanti. Hi spent the round getting his bearings and dropping off the girls. Outnumbered and surrounded, Yuto stepped forward and stabbed a Shoanti. And crit! And almost brought him down.
Shiro bellowed, "For Shelyn's sake Yuto, stand behind your paladin!" as he took Yuto to task for stepping INTO danger. At the same time he struck with his rapier taking down one Shoanti and wounding another.
With the bards relatively safe, Raesh moved back to the front and dropped the greatsword-wielding Shoanti lieutenant with a series of critical blows. A moment later his companion crit a grapple roll to wrap Raesh in a spiked chain (more a cool special effect than a legal weapon). Raesh went still, but patient, trusting that she would be freed by one of her allies by the time she needed to act. Initiatives rolled around again and Halek rendered him hamburger, freeing Raesh.
As the Shoanti fell like raindrops, Hi teleported back in, counting desperately down to his next initiative turn. By the time it came around, there was one thug left. Hi was fed up. He Disintegrated him. Overkill, much?
As Raesh surveyed the damage, realizing that four Shoanti still lived, Shiro asked Halek about them. GM Note: I couldn't find a name for the clanless, so I made one up. Anyone know what banished Shoanti are called, if anything? They were "Sklaggar-Quah", clanless who had been banished from their tribes for crimes that did not call for outright execution. Every one was marked on the face with a tattoo, indicating their shame. Halek went on to explain that many Sklaggar-Quah turned to slavery as a form of revenge, capturing their brethren and selling them to the slave markets of Katapesh or the orc hordes of Belkzen. Even worse, many buyers in Katapesh appreciated the Shoanti women for their exotic muscular beauty, but not their fierce natures, and so had a ritual that would remove their minds, leaving them blank slates. They were referred to as 'brood mares', and this was what the Shoanti had said he would do to Raesh, and why Halek had had to kill him. "It was done to my mother. And when we came to rescue her, I had to kill her with my own hands to free her from her prison. These men must die."
Raesh looked at the helpless men. Looked at Halek. Looked at Shiro and Hi staring at her. And said, "Come, Yuto, allow me to escort you back to the Blue Bunyip."
She turned her back and walked away, and pretended not to hear the howls of rage, pain, and grief from Halek as his earthbreaker came down again and again. As Halek arrived at the last of their fallen foes, Shiro looked to him and, in a show of support, stabbed the downed man with his rapier killing him. Halek nodded to Shiro.
Raesh's armor did not dim.
No one dared come near them on their trip back to the Bunyip. Shiro cleaned Halek as he could.
Just before they arrived, Shiro took a moment and turned his fur dead black, so there was nothing but white teeth gleaming in black fur.
"Raesh. I need you to do something for me. At heart I really love to make mischief; mostly harmless mischief but all the same. When I use my songs to confound others it makes me want to even more. I have a serious urge right now to go out on the town and be mischievous. I need you to choose for me, either tell me to go back to the Blue Bunyip and calm down, or carry this cloak of resistance back for me as I won't be needing the restraint it offers if I go out."
Raesh sighed. "Shiro. I am not here to make your decisions for you. But if you are asking my opinion, I would rather you not make mischief tonight. I would much rather know that you were safe."
Shiro turned back white. "OK," he responded as his toothy grin faded leaving a more comtemplative look.
At the Bunyip, Halek simply demanded a "bath for washing" and went to his room. The concierge understood perfectly.
Yuto approached Raesh. "Rae'Sheleth, I realize that the day ended on a sour note, but I would still like to take you out. Is that OK?"
Raesh agreed, so she and the other party members went upstairs and got cleaned up. They agreed to reconvene at the Bunyip at 7:30 pm to go to the play.
Shiro lingered behind for a moment alone with Yuto, "Yuto, you played well today. Your music inspired the group. What did you think of the experience?"
Yuto admitted that he was terrified and that it was his first actual fight. He just did what they taught him in practice. Shiro looked him over and remarked that he was much the same just 3 months ago. Raesh was VERY good at bringing out the best in a bard.
Yuto's next remark gave Shiro a moment's pause, adding to his worry, "Perhaps I'll do just that. I would enjoy more time with her and it never hurts to improve."
Shiro, looking stern, replied, "Get your own paladin!" and left in a bit of a huff for upstairs to get ready for the evening.
Raesh returned downstairs to meet Yuto. She was dressed for an evening at the theater in the dress that Shiro had bought for her, complete with her long leather boots and scimitar at her hip. He offered her his arm and said, "Keep your scimitar at hand."
Raesh didn't know whether or not he was joking, but simply replied, "I always do."
Yuto took Raesh back to Lowcleft. At night, it was a completely transformed area, much like Las Vegas. Garish lights blazed in front of every establishment. Crowds wandered the streets, meandering from establishment to establishment with no real aim. Yuto led Raesh expertly through the crowds, down a dark flight of stairs, and into a small restaurant. A swarthy Varisian man bellowed, "Yuto! Welcome! Welcome! Dinner for two, then?"
The restaurant was run by a family of Varisians and their extended clan. The two children waited the tables. (Raesh's only comment was, "Are these REAL Varisian children? I thought they were much... less... well-behaved?") Several Varisians formed a band providing music. The mother and grandmother did the cooking, and the food was rich and satisfying, if not up to the standards of the Blue Bunyip or Rusty Dragon. Periodically, a Varisian or two would jump up onto the large table set aside for just such purposes and dance. Yuto smiled as Raesh visibly relaxed at the setting. He ordered wine for both of them, and eventually jumped onto the table himself and joined in the dance. He beckoned to Raesh to join him, but she wouldn't, and Yuto didn't press the matter.
While Yuto and Raesh spent an intimate dinner in Lowcleft, the remainder of the party (sans Halek) chose to get a bite to eat. At Kaede's suggestion they dined at the Reefclaw, a restaurant in Lowcleft managed by the owners of the Fancy Reefclaw brewery. Shiro chose randomly from the menu by tossing a dagger into the air and ordered what its point landed on... surf and turf (aurochs and reefclaw). The girls, apparently knowing a bit more of the establishment, ordered an order of reefclaw to split. Hi followed suit and ordered the reefclaw as well, while Rilka, apparently missing her familiar home environs, settled on trout. In the end, the girls' choice was obviously the correct one since, as one might expect, they were the best thing on the menu. In fact, they might have been the only edible thing on the menu. Shiro's aurochs tasted more of leather than meat, and Hi ended up splitting his claw with Rilka while the poorly prepared, dry, perhaps excessively-aged trout languished, unappreciated. Rilka decided that she was very fond of reefclaw.
After dinner, everyone met at the Bunyip (except for Halek, who had not reappeared), and went to the play. The play was as obscene and disrespectful as advertised. It started with a grossly obese man playing the mayor as an infant demanding, "More food! More votes!", and proceeded to go downhill from there, highlighting his political career as one filled with bribery, corruption, and an excess of gluttony. In every office, he was offered bribes of money, power, women, and food, and every time he accepted the food to comic effect. Hi commented, "I can't believe they portrayed the mayor so realistically. I thought this was supposed to be a satire."
Raesh found the production juvenile overall, but found some scenes to be quite amusing.
The group returned to the Bunyip. Kaede and Umie invited Shiro back to the Kobayashi manor for sandwiches, but this time he declined, indicating after the events of the day he'd prefer to sleep alone. They had no way to know that he needed time to consider the events of the day and his future with the group. Perhaps it would be better if the more senior bard helped the others on their quests?
As the rest of the party went in, Yuto held Raesh back a moment.
"Rae'Sheleth. I had a wonderful day today. I am glad I was able to make you more comfortable. You are a truly remarkable woman."
He changed to his human form, reached out, and cupped her face in his hands, pulling her towards him. She did not resist, so Yuto gave her a long goodbye kiss. "Good night, Rae'Sheleth." Raesh looked back at him with a softer-than-usual expression, "Goodnight, Yuto." He gently released her, bowed goodbye, and headed back for home.
Raesh headed into the Blue Bunyip, only to be confronted by the night concierge.
"Miss Rae'Sheleth. This came for you while you were out!"
The note read, "Rae'Sheleth, paladin of Sarenrae from Absalom: Report as soon as possible to 534 Mucksweeper street, Underbridge, Magnimar. Be prepared for lengthy travel. Do not bring animals."
Much to his astonishment, Shiro heard a knock at HIS door. Raesh showed Shiro the note. Shiro, seeing that his paladin needed him, delayed any serious decisions about his future to a later time and place. Raesh showed the note to the rest of the group, telling them that she must leave and that they need not feel obligated to come with her if they did not wish to. The meeting with Halek was particularly awkward. He answered the door stark naked, stood stock still as she explained the situation, and then said, "You are a good leader. You are a good warrior. You are a good friend. I will come with you."
"Thank you, Halek."
Raesh tried to find a comfortable way to touch the naked barbarian, and ended up patting him on his bald head. Much to Raesh's chagrin, Halek responded by embracing her in a bear hug, then put her down and headed back into his room.
After seeing the insulted looks on all her companion's faces when she suggested going without them, she apologized and thanked them for their loyalty and continued companionship. A faint, happy smile quirked the corners of her lips. They decided they would depart first thing in the morning after Hi had teleported Rilka back to Sandpoint.
*** End of session ***
Next Planned Session: Saturday, 16 March 2013. (Already played).
So need to dot this...
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16-Mar-2013 Game
My oncoming illness, lack of preparation, and an extremely-full social schedule kept this session extremely short, but the players REALLY wanted to get to Absalom, so between hollandaise, miniature golf, homemade fettucini alfredo, and collapsing in a calorie-induced coma, I managed to run a short session.
Yet again, no one earned a Silver Tsuto Award. There was a really cool fight, but the one fumble card that was drawn was so epically boring I don't even remember who drew it.
And now begins a sidetrack away from RotRL to wrap up Raesh's backstory and return the group to Absalom:
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31-Kuthona-4707
Raesh arose at dawn and dashed off a quick note to Yuto: "Yuto, I have been called away and must leave immediately. Thank you for dinner and for your time. I found both most enjoyable. Rae'Shaleth."
As she departed to perform her devotions, she handed the note to the concierge, asking him to please give it to Yuto when he next saw him. Halek followed her to the temple of Iomedae, a mask of silence. As Raesh performed her devotions and Halek exercised, Rilka woke up Hi and he teleported her back to Sandpoint, then returned to the Bunyip. Shiro joined him downstairs, then popped back upstairs again to dash off quick notes to Kaede and Umie that he'd be leaving and didn't know when he'd return. As they made their preparations to go, they didn't notice as Yuto entered, a huge bouquet of pure white roses in his arms. The concierge handed him the note. His ears fell and his tail drooped.
Yuto looked surprised as Raesh and Halek returned. He perked up a bit and offered her the roses. Raesh declined to take them. "As you have read, I must depart. The roses are beautiful, Yuto, please take care of them for me."
Yuto asked, "Are you returning?"
"I do not know, but I believe we are."
"Then I look forward to the next time I see you."
Raesh asked Yuto if he knew where the address in Underbridge was located. He did, and gave the party directions. Yuto then bowed and stepped out, taking his roses with him.
Once they knew where they were going, they proceeded straight to Underbridge. Their reputation from the previous day preceded them; they were not bothered by anyone or anything on their journey. Arriving at the warehouse, they saw two guards in uniforms standing at the door. Raesh recognized the uniforms as being typical of guards of noble houses of Absalom, though these guards had no house markings. As they approached, one of the men stepped forward and addressed each party member in turn.
"You are Rae'Sheleth, paladin of Sarenrae?"
"Yes, I am."
"You are Hi Ichiban, Varisian gnome sorcerer?"
"Who wants to know?"
At that point Shiro lost patience and introduced himself, Hi, and Halek and asked whether they could please go in. With a slight bit of impatience, the guard explained that his orders were extremely explicit, and they could all be done much faster if he could just follow procedure. Shiro Sensed Motive on the guard and determined that the guard was extremely unhappy with the unusual situation, but absolutely determined to make sure nothing happened to the party and his duty was carried out successfully. Shiro allowed him to finish asking each party member to verify their names.
The other guard opened the door and beckoned the party into the warehouse. He went first, and led the party into a large room with six chairs, a long table some distance away from the chairs, and a few crates. The guards settled into two of the chairs and told the party, "Might as well sit down and wait. Our contact's been notified. He should be here in a few minutes."
The group joined the guards on the chairs, and, within a few minutes, there was a knock at the door. One of the guards got up an let in an older human man, clearly a wizard, both by his aura of power and by his robes. Once again, while he was dressed in proper wizarding robes of Absalom, there were no school markings or other adornments on the robes. The man looked at them and spoke. "Please remove all of your magic items and place them on the table."
When the party hesitated, he proceeded. "You are wise not to trust us. But we mean you no harm, and I will personally defend you if anything should happen in this warehouse. The reason I ask you to remove your magic items is that I will be casting Mage's Disjunction on you to ensure you carry no magic with you, and I do not wish to destroy your items."
With that explanation, the party agreed, and removed their magical gear. For Hi this meant he had to strip down to nothing, as all of his clothes, even the scarf Rilka had given him, had some kind of magic that protected it from fire. Raesh scowled fiercely as she laid down her scimitar. As they worked, the wizard daubed something under his eyes and cast True Seeing to examine the party members. Once they were ready, he cast True Form (forcing Shiro into his kitsune form) and Mage's Disjunction. Once Shiro understood the reason he was required to remove his magic items he pointed out a number of things that he had purchased recently; just in case those items were marked magically. This prompted some examination of their gear before it was deemed safe.
Satisfied that the party were who they said they were, the wizard had them re-equip and explained more. "We deal in the highest of secrets here, so I am afraid I must impose on you even further. Our final destination is a location so secret you may not know of it, so we have prepared several crates for you. They are not wonderful, but we have lined them with pillows for your comfort. If you so desire, I will also put you all in telepathic links with one another, though be aware that I will be part of that link."
Shiro asked whether he could ride with another party member in a crate, and the wizard explained that the magic they were using had not been tested in such a situation, so he would prefer each party member in his or her own crate. Reluctantly, the party again complied and climbed into their crates. As each crate was about to be sealed, the wizard cast Nondetection on each party member.
The crates were loaded onto a cart, and the guards pulled the cart through Underbridge. Shiro crit his Knowledge: Local to know exactly where they were going, and started calling out street names and corners as they traveled out of Underbridge and into Dockway. Finally, the wizard spoke up (telepathically): "Young man. You may find this a game. But it is a matter of life-and-death importance to many people of great power. If you learn the location of our destination, you will be killed, and I cannot help you. Please reconsider your actions."
Shiro, once more chastised for attempting to have fun, gave up on his game of guess where we are and stopped paying attention to their progress. He decided to sing instead.
Eventually, they were wheeled into another warehouse, and (somewhat) carefully put down next to each other. The wizard spoke some words, there was a lurch in their stomachs, and...
...they were somewhere else, unable to peek out of the crates while they waited for what came next. Hi rolled high enough on his Spellcraft to recognize a Teleport, but it was unlike any he had ever heard of.
Different men put the crates on a different cart, and they rolled through streets that neither sounded nor smelled familiar. Raesh made a high enough Knowledge: Local roll to know: She was back in Absalom.
Raesh's suspicions were confirmed as the cart was pulled up the steps of the temple of Sarenrae and she heard Olytrius' voice calling out, "Yes, yes! Take them to my office. They're very delicate! Thank you!"
Once the crates were delivered (with Olytrius making comments about how he had been looking forward to a shipment of books) and the delivery men departed, Olytrius took a crowbar and pried open Raesh's crate. A dozen sarcastic, biting comments died on her lips as she saw him. His hair had greyed. His eyes were sunken, his face unshaved. He had lost at least 30 pounds. He looked like he had aged 20 years in the 6 months since she'd last seen him. "Oh, my little snow leopard! How good it is to see you!"
They released the rest of the party, and Olytrius apprised them of the situation. "I've been a fool. We all knew Gregory's death wasn't natural, but no one could figure out what had killed him, or why he couldn't be resurrected. I thought I was being clever by naming you Second Paladin, but it didn't help at all. First came the assassins. Then the Finger of Death. Then the Disintegration. I was arrogant. I thought they would make a mistake. I thought if I kept making myself a target, they would slip up and we would have them."
"It was I who made the mistake..." Olytrius took a moment to steady himself.
"I was at the market when they hit me with Cloudkill. I watched as 45 innocent people died around me. They knew it wouldn't hurt my body. They just wanted to cause me pain..."
Olytrius broke down for a moment. The party remained silent, listening intently. Raesh allowed her sympathy to show on her face, she knew well what it was to have others suffer for your decisions, and the torment and self-doubt that would follow.
"With the weight of so many innocent deaths on my shoulders, I retreated to the temple, and have not been out since. That has stopped the attacks. But I have felt so helpless...
"We finally performed a powerful Divination and received a message from Gregory: 'While I live, Olytrius will not act.' Even Gregory wanted me to act, but what could I do?!?!
"It was then that I slammed my fists on this desk, and this fell out."
Olytrius produced a small leather-bound journal covered with Gregory's elaborate handwriting. He handed it to Raesh.
"I am afraid we may have misjudged him, snow leopard."
=====
Personal journal of Gregory, High Cleric of Sarenrae in Absalom
14-Sarenith-4707 (June): I was approached by Lord Sylvester Horund of the High Council, well known for his exotic appetite in women (to the point of him being accused on multiple occasions of being a Raksasha), to purchase Rae'Shaleth. I declined, of course. While I may have my personal issues with a creature of darkness dwelling within a temple of light, even she does not deserve such a fate. Lord Horund's conquests are legendary, and none of his concubines have lived well. Even more importantly, Rae'Sheleth has dedicated herself faithfully to our temple, and I must overcome my personal biases and reward that faith.
21-Sarenith-4707 (June): Another messenger from Lord Horund with a requst to purchase Rae'Sheleth. Apparently he does not take 'No' for an answer lightly. I declined him again.
05-Erastus-4707 (July): A most alarming encounter: Lord Horund himself visited me in the temple and requested a private audience. While there, he insisted on the urgency of his need for Rae'Sheleth, and indicated that he could make my life very difficult if I refused him. I am not accustomed to being threatened; in fact, it may be the first time someone has dared to do so in my presence! I must watch this Lord Horund carefully; I believe our Rae'Sheleth to be in true danger.
19-Erastus-4707 (July): Lord Horund is a far more dangerous, far more subtle foe than I'd ever imagined. We have lost three acolytes who were non-natives of Absalom to slavers, and I am powerless to rescue them. Two more were drawn into Lord Horund's harem. I am certain that treachery, threats, drugs, or magic were involved, but my appeals to the Council go unheeded; I am afraid I have not made myself the most popular man among the nobility, and now that I need their help, I cannot rely on it. Sarenrae forgive me, but how many children's souls must lie on my conscience before I bend and give up Rae'Sheleth. Never! They must have a far fouler purpose for her than mere carnal desires, and I cannot allow them to have her! Where, oh where is that buffoon Olytrius when I need him? He may be useless as a paladin, but he loves her, and will do whatever it takes to protect her! I need his advice now more than I would care to admit!
26-Erastus-4707 (July): It has come to murder in the streets. Today we lost Argentor, a stalwart paladin and a fine friend. Stabbed in the back by common street rabble! I told the staff that he was lost in battle against a summoned demon, but I cannot protect Rae'Sheleth much longer. Our temple grows weak, morale is lowering, my temper grows short, and I can no longer stand the sight of her. What does Lord Horund see in her? Why is he willing to destroy my temple to get at her? Why am I so powerless to stop him? I know his name; I know where he lives. I know Olytrius would storm his manor in an instant, cutting down all in his path as abettors to atrocities, slaying Lord Horund where he stood, and fleeing Absalom in trumph, glory, and shame. But I am not Olytrius. I must keep the future of the church in my heart. I cannot run forth and commit murder. I cannot allow my acolytes to keep dying. Rae'Sheleth must leave this temple. And Sarenrae help her when she does.
07-Arodus-4707 (August): As my temper returns to me, I must remember to thank Sarenrae a thousand times this evening. Olytrius, pompous and careless as ever, nearly started a war with our dwarven allies over a mere blow to Rae'Sheleth. She has suffered far worse in training; what is a blow with a greataxe to her? I hear drow like that sort of thing. But I digress. Olytrius caused a massive scene on the very steps of the temple, giving me an excuse to drag him into my office. While our tempers flared, on one thing we agreed: Raesh HAD to leave the temple. There's a smarmy little bootlick named Nemar off to dedicate some petty little shrine in the middle of nowhere;"
*** Raesh paused in her reading to comment, "Well. I suppose that anyone who referred to Nemar as a 'smarmy little bootlick' cannot have been all bad..." ***
"I believe it is the ideal place to hide Rae'Sheleth from the politics of Absalom, and protect my chuch as well. So to "Sandpoint" she goes! May she journey long and far, and not return in my lifetime, praise Sarenrae! Even better, I managed to force Olytrius to stay here! Lord Horund knows Olytrius' reputation, and dare not make a move while he is in Absalom!
24-Rova-4707 (September): Nearly two months after her departure, I continue to be haunted by that drow. Apparently Nemar managed to get himself killed by goblins. Why am I not surprised that he met his doom in the middle of nowhere, slain by a threat that has been all but exterminated in civilized lands?
25-Rova-4707 (September): Olytrius has fled! The fool left for Sandpoint to 'rescue' Rae'Sheleth! Is that man so clouded by love that he cannot see the irrationality of his actions! We need him here! I need him here, to protect us from Lord Horund! How dare he! He will never be a paladin of this church again, for as long as I live!
27-Lamasht-4707 (October): We finally received word from Rae'Sheleth today, asking for guidance. While Lord Horund and his dogs have been quiet, I do not believe a few weeks of peace mean anything here in Absalom, where the shadow games can be many years in the making. I responded that she was to continue her investigations, let her know that Olytrius was no longer a paladin here, and tried to keep the sending as bland as possible so she would not suspect anything was amiss.
11-Neth-4707 (November): Sarenrae forgive me, but I must admit it is with some relief that I record that Lord Horund is no more, killed by one of his concubines in a jealous rage. Where she got the poisoned dagger I will never know, but I must confess that it will make my life far easier once Rae'Sheleth is back at the temple and Olytrius is reined in again. I must make arrangements to bring them back to Absalom immediately.
12-Neth-4707 (November): Gregory dies
=====
Finishing the document, Raesh handed it to Shiro to read. She made a face. She still did not like Gregory, but saw no point in belaboring the obvious. She asked Olytirus, "What would you have us do?"
"Exactly what I was doing. Go out. Tour Absalom. Make yourself visible. Lure the assassins out of their hiding places. And crush them."
Olytrius did not notice a somewhat predatory smile growing on Raesh's face, or that she was practically vibrating with anticipation of actually getting to tour the city for the first time in her life!
Shiro approached Olytrius, removing his Ring of Sustenance. "Olytrius. You are a good man and a good friend. I believe this will help you. I would appreciate it if you would take it and wear it for me."
Olytrius stared at the ring. "What haunts me cannot be cured by food or sleep, my friend. Every time I close my eyes I see those people dying around me..."
"Nevertheless, I would appreciate it if you would wear it for me, and don't think that this means we are engaged!"
Olytrius smiled wanly, shrugged, and put on the ring.
Raesh gave Olytrius a sympathetic hug. Then she looked him straight in the eyes. "Olytrius, you are a paladin. You know what it means to be a paladin. You must accept that you are not responsible for the deaths of the innocents, the abomination who cast the Cloudkill is. Do not allow them to cripple you with regret. Mourn the fallen, then forgive yourself and move forward. Be the paladin I know you are."
The party took their leave of Olytrius, but not before Raesh presented him with the gift she had brought from the library at Jorgenfist, the carefully copied map of pre-Earthfall Golarion. Olytrius was ecstatic, "Where did you get this?"
Raesh looked casual, "Just something we happened upon during our travels. I thought you would like it."
They then returned to the main part of the temple. Many of Raesh's trainees saw her, and could not help but notice her glow. They congratulated her on her successful mission. The party noted that word of her return would soon be known throughout Absalom. They took lunch with the acolytes and cadets in the main hall. Before leaving, Shiro cast Seeming on the party. He did not alter Raesh's appearance, feeling it would not be appreciated. He made himself look like a regular acolyte of Sarenrae. He made Hi look like another human acolyte, though perhaps a tad bit short.
GM Note: I didn't read the description on Seeming, figuring a 5th-level bard illusion would be pretty powerful. However, I don't know whether Halek and Hi's changes would be allowed under the '1 foot taller or shorter' description in the spell. Anyway, as mentioned, I allowed it because I didn't read it. The players added the 'tall' and 'short' descriptors thereafter.
For Halek, Shiro chose pure genius: He made Halek look like a tall gnome spellcaster. Hi put Mage Armor on himself, just in case someone saw through the illusion.
The party left the temple, Raesh practically skipping in anticipation of finally seeing the city. They decided that their first stop on the tour would be the Azlanti Keep; from its rooftops they would be able to gaze out over all of Absalom, and Raesh would finally be able to see the city she had called home for nearly a century. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for them, my very first encounter roll was a 1, and the plot came back into play.
I thought my Mantises were stealthy with a 36 on their Stealth roll. Both Raesh and Shiro beat the roll handily and saw them coming, so the party was prepared as eight Red Mantis assassins poured out from cracks between the buildings, blades glistening with purplish black venom. Raesh called out to the nearby locals that combat was imminent and to get to shelter. A diplomacy roll in the 30s had them scurrying to safety. She invoked her bonded weapon and waited. Because they lost their surprise round, the Mantises did not use their Prayer attacks, but engaged directly. Shiro realized that their enemies were using poison so he cast Good Hope and began performing Inspire Courage before they arrived.
As the Mantises ran up, the little gnome sorcerer pulled out a tiny little silver hammer, about the size the doctor uses to test your reflexes. WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! One Mantis was rendered a quivering pool of jelly, one antenna twitching involuntarily in agony. To my utter and complete embarrassment, the Mantises fumbled their Perception roll to believe that maybe, just maybe, that wasn't a gnome...
So they flanked Halek and started carving. 4d8 + 12d6 + 4 + DC 22 poison might have fazed a gnome sorcerer. It tickled Halek slightly. The Mantis began to realize that trying to take down the gnome was a Bad Idea. Unfortunately, the rest of the fight wasn't going much better for them. Raesh was continuing her crit streak. One mantis managed to hit her for a few points, but she crit her fortitude save and the drow poison resulted in little more than a shudder and a toothy smile. She was enjoying herself hugely. Shiro continued to perform while casting Haste and Hi cast Chain Lightning to minimal effect (all but one Mantis made their Reflex saves) followed next round by Cone of Cold, also to minimal effect as they all made their Reflex saves again.
In another stroke of genius, Shiro called out to Raesh, "If they keep hitting our gnome construct they may break it!"
The witnesses in the walls took note.
The rest of the fight was mop-up. Shiro used Windy Escape to avoid poison sword attacks. Red Mantis with drow venom are deadly in close quarters by surprise. Toe-to-toe with fighting classes, not so much. As soon as the last Mantis dropped, Hi cast Invisibility Sphere and Silence on the area, and the rest of the group quickly shoved the corpses and survivors into their huge bag of holding, then Hi teleported them back to the temple steps and in.
They dumped their initial load in the great hall. "We got some!"
Olytrius came out and smiled broadly. "I knew it was a good idea to call you home, Rae'Sheleth."
The party left questioning of the Mantises to the temple and headed back out. They were unmolested as they traveled through the Wise Quarter to the Azlanti Keep. There, they met guards in the same kind of house uniforms they'd seen on the guards in Magnimar, but here each guard had a carefully-sewn house crest on his or her uniform. They recognized Raesh immediately, so when she asked to see the rooftops, they promptly led her up to one of the guards' relaxation areas, with a clear view of the entire city of Absalom.
Raesh gazed out across the vast expanse of the city, smiling quite broadly. "Look, Shiro! That is the dock where I first saw you! And I can see the path to the temple! The temple looks so small in comparison to the rest of the city... it always felt so big from the inside!" Raesh's heart swelled as she was finally able to look over the city that she had always known was there, but had been forbidden to experience. The sun on her face had never felt so good.
*** End of session ***
Next Planned Session: Friday, April 5. Most likely just a tour of Absalom, because my players CANNOT abide visiting a city without visiting every nook and cranny, but their enemies have plans, too...
Love the side trek. Hope we'll see Shiro's story tied up as well. :)
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05-Apr-2013 Game
We had another 'short' 4-hour session, as it's really hard to fit going out to dinner, gaming, and a couple of episodes of anime into a Friday night (most of us are over 40, remember!). Hi's player did not lapse into catatonia before the evening ended, so it was all good.
No combat, so no Silver Tsuto Award.
Very similar to the tour of Magnimar, this was mainly just me reading my notes from the Guide to Absalom to the players and trying to add some life and depth to a (necessarily) much-sparser book.
On a completely unrelated note having nothing whatsoever to do with Shiro's continued health, Shiro's player killed my fighter in Carrion Crown AGAIN this weekend. That's 2-0 by my count...
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31-Kuthona-4707
Raesh, Shiro, Halek, and Hi gazed over Absalom for quite some time. Shiro noticed how pleased Raesh was to finally get to see the city where she had spent most of her life. He was so happy seeing her smile that he remarked (quietly), "Raesh, I just can't understand a group of barbarians who would cast a spell to destroy the very best part of you, just so they could sleep with the package it came in."
Raesh responded, "Some things are best not understood. Such understanding can be damaging to the soul."
Raesh realized that there was no way she would be able to explore the entire city on her own. She turned to one of the off-duty guards. "If you wanted to explore Absalom, where would you go?"
"Oh, I've never been much out of Eastgate and Azlanti Keep, so I'm not a good one to ask. If you really want to learn your way around Absalom, you should go down to The Docks and hire a guide or a hotspur. For the likes of you, I'd recommend a hotspur. They'll show you more 'exciting' places that a guide wouldn't dare travel, and I think your group can handle themselves all right."
The party spent a few more minutes gazing out over the vast sea of buildings that was Absalom, then thanked their hosts profusely and descended to the streets below. Rather than walk the several miles to The Docks, Shiro insisted on hiring a carriage for them. The party was rather surprised to find that the carriage was being pulled by camels, but the driver was polite enough, and agreed to transport the party to The Docks for the paltry sum of 2 g.p. Shiro paid, and Raesh asked whether she could ride on the outside of the carriage, but the driver refused, and insisted that all passengers ride inside the carriage. She agreed, and the carriage proceeded down the streets of Absalom, Shiro's head poking out, tongue lolling in the breeze. GM Note: OK. That's not true. They still had the illusions on themselves, and Shiro was still in human form. But c'mon, it's a great mental image...
They rode back through the Wise Quarter and into Ascendant Court, then on into The Coins, the main merchant district of Absalom. As soon as Shiro saw the vast array of goods, he called over an urchin and ordered some sweetmeats. The boy scurried over to a vendor, brought back a tray, and Shiro paid him 2 g.p. for his trouble. He then offered one to Raesh, snagged one for himself, and passed the tray to Halek and Hi. Before they could even eat the first bite, the carriage was surrounded by over a dozen urchins offering other wares for sale, and the driver muttered back to them, "I wish you hadn't done that."
In spite of the distractions, the carriage arrived at The Docks a bit before sundown. The party gazed at the vast docks, with hundreds of ships loading and unloading, and swarms of locals around every ship. The poorly-dressed locals were offering goods and "services" to the sailors, while better-dressed locals were offering the same to officers. The carriage driver stepped down, let the party out of their carriage, and called out, "Hotspur! Group that needs a hotspur!"
His call got immediate results: Six people surrounded the party, offering their services. The first was a grizzled fighter with dual swords on his back and a scar down the left side of his face. He was obviously well-versed in combat, but his merits as a guide left much to the imagination. The second was a dark-skinned man with a thin mustache, baggy trousers, and a rapier by his side. The third man's skin was nearly as black as coal, and the tiny vest he was wearing did almost nothing to hide his massive bare chest. The scimitar at his side looked like a toy compared to his bulk, and the silky pantaloons he wore looked distinctly out of place. The fourth man looked the part: Tight leather armor, a dagger-and-rapier combination, and a weaselly look that said he knew his way around the city, in both good neighborhoods and bad. The fifth was a woman, looking like nothing so much as a pirate captain right out of nautical fiction. Not only did she have the tight leather pants, oversized leather belt, scimitar at her side, and white poofy blouse with leather vest, but she even wore a tricorn hat with a ludicrous feather in it. The sixth was a woman in a skintight white outfit.
Raesh's first test was obvious: She Detected Evil on each hotspur in turn. Mr. Thin Mustache, Mr. Tight Leathers, and Ms. Skintight-in-white were asked to leave immediately. If there were hard feelings, the displaced weren't silly enough to air them publicly at their 'place of employment'.
Shiro asked the next question, "If we were attacked by a dozen assassins, like we were this morning, what would you do?"
The two-sword fighter did not hesitate: "I would lay down my life to defend you!"
The huge black-skinned man replied, "I would do my dervish dance to smite your enemies so that they fell like the leaves in autumn."
Raesh was slightly surprised. "Are you Keleshite?"
"No, m'lady. But I dance, and my enemies fall."
The pirate woman smiled. "I notice you're a paladin. And you're in mithral plate mail, so I'm betting you know how to use that," she gestured at Raesh's scimitar, "So I'd do the sensible thing and hide behind the paladin." Shiro smirked and nodded in agreement.
The black-skinned man snorted in derision. Raesh thanked the two-sword fighter. "Although you are clearly valiant, we do not wish you do lay down your life for us, and yet that is what you would surely do. So, although we appreciate your honesty and valor, you are not right for us at this time."
The fighter, nonplussed at being dismissed, but not too unhappy with the compliment, bowed and strode off.
Raesh thought for a bit on her next question, and then turned to the woman: "If I were to ask you to show this (pointing at Hi, still looking like a somewhat-short human acolyte) man a good time, where would you take him?"
The woman did not hesitate for an instant. "I would take him to the Saucy Wench in the coins! Excellent food, excellent mead, and beautiful wenches exposing their cleavage! It's where every man would want to go!"
Raesh seemed nonplussed, and turned to the black-skinned man. His hesitation was his undoing. "Er, um... I'd take him to the same place. But everyone knows that!"
The final question on rates was equally bad. The woman offered to work for 1 g.p. per day, with a combat bonus of 5 g.p. per day any time the party encountered "trouble". The black-skinned man immediately counter-offered 8 s.p. per day. The woman stood firm at her original price, and the party decided they would hire her on. They thanked the black-skinned man for his time and sent him on his way.
The woman introduced herself as Jeryl, hotspur of Absalom. She asked where they were staying, and when they admitted that they were staying at the temple of Sarenrae, she expressed some surprise. "If you're acolytes on duty, you don't need my services. If you're acolytes on leave, why the heck aren't you staying somewhere better?"
The party decided to put their trust in Jeryl. Shiro allowed Jeryl to see their true forms, and Raesh told her that her current mission was to draw assassins into the open. The danger was very real, and they would understand if she no longer wanted the job. Looking over Halek and Raesh, Jeryl said, "I figure as long as I'm behind those two I'll be OK."
She looked over Halek once more and asked, "Are you SURE you're going to be sleeping at the temple?"
The party assured her that they needed to stay at the temple for their own and others' protection, so she shrugged and flagged down a pair of rickshaws. She had them pulled to The Coins district, and led them straight to the Saucy Wench, a 4-story mead hall serving nothing but fresh-baked bread, honey mead, and slabs of meat cut from giant spits roasting right there in the hall. At the sight of the giant roasting spits, Raesh allowed herself a barely perceptible grin; one that Shiro noticed immediately. Identically-dressed buxom barmaids carried handfuls of mugs to all the patrons, while matching waiters served the meat. Shiro and Hi's eyes lit up. "It's perfect!"
At the start of the meal, they were forced to sit at separate tables or chairs. However, when they noticed that Halek (still looking like a tall gnome) was garnering some attention while grabbing HUGE chunks of meat and bread, they decided to let the illusion drop. The seats around Halek emptied immediately, and the party could sit together. The party enjoyed an excellent meal and fantastic mead. Shiro was so taken by the place that he hopped up onto the table and began performing drinking songs. The other patrons seemed to welcome his performance, and even moved back their plates and drinks to give him room. He played masterfully and earned enough coin to buy a round for the other patrons on the floor. Jeryl admitted that she'd heard that the Saucy Wench had managed to procure a barrel of the Temple of Calistria's coveted wasp honey in this year's auction, so she knew the mead would be spectacular. The bread and meat were excellent as well, and after dinner Jeryl escorted the party back to the temple, and agreed to pick them up in the morning. They paid her 2 g.p., one for the evening, and one for the next day.
Much to her surprise, Raesh was given the quarters of the second paladin of Absalom, at least twice the size of her usual cell, and with an actual bed instead of a cot. Shiro rolled his eyes and asked, "What will you do with all this room?"
Each party member had his or her own cell, so they started settling in. Shiro turned into a fox and hid under the bed in his cell. After a few minutes, he realized this wouldn't do, so he trotted over and scratched at the door of Raesh's cell. Being inside the temple, Raesh didn't bother with her scimitar. She opened the door. Shiro trotted in and scurried under the bed. Raesh closed the door behind him and went back to bed. Shiro slept under the bed.
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01-Abadius-4708
Raesh awoke shortly before dawn, and joined the procession of paladins, clerics, and acolytes heading out to perform their morning devotions. Olytrius caught up with her, and the two of them took their positions at the head of the service; Olytrius at the head, Raesh behind him and to the right, and the ranking cleric (Xerashir of House Shamyyid) behind him and to the left. As their morning ceremony ended, Jeryl arrived to take the party on the first day of their tour.
Once again, Shiro cast Seeming on the party, this time making Halek the magic-wielding human acolyte and Hi the tall gnome "construct". Jeryl first took them through the Ascendant Court, mentioning the temples of Calistria, Iomedae, and Cayden Cailean that shared the area with the temple of Sarenrae. Shiro asked about a temple to Shelyn, only to find it was located in another part of the city. Jeryl then pointed out the two major streets: The Avenue of the Hopeful where potential Starstone candidates might spend a lifetime accepting offerings from their devoted before even attempting the test of the Starstone ("I should tell my cousin about this place," Hi said), and the God's Market where the local temples sold items of actual use, such as divine scrolls, wands, and holy symbols, as well as holy water and other items useful to clerics and paladins. Finally, Jeryl mentioned the Shrine of the Failed, where those who had failed the Starstone test over the millennia were commemorated. Though the party enjoyed discussing the various areas, they did not choose to go to any particular destination, and so Jeryl proceeded with them to The Coins.
The party had already encountered the Grand Bazaar, where all manner of goods were bought and sold, so Jeryl focused instead on areas they might not be so familiar with: The "Bail House" was the headquarters of the local, almost-completely-ineffectual guards known as "token guards", infamous for arresting all parties involved in a quarrel and charging every person a copper for bail. Though the party saw the red silk rope separating the pleasure district from the rest of the Bazaar, they chose not to go in. They visited the Hackamore House, the local steed and carriage shop run by a centaur, but Shiro's question of, "Are you really a centaur?" put her in such a sour mood that Shiro lumped centaurs in with dwarves as creatures he would rather not deal with. Raesh happily examined the barding available for some of the rarer types of mounts. Jeryl pointed out Misery Row (the slaver quarters), saying, "As we are traveling with a paladin, I will not take you beyond that wall." When she saw Hi's steely expression, the narrowing of his eyes and the heat from his clenched fist starting to make the air around it ripple, she added "I will warn you in particular, Sir Gnome, that while freeing slaves using physical might is ignored, freeing them using magic is punished by death." Raesh maintained a stony face, but seethed inwardly. She reminded herself that they were there for purposes other than the disruption of the slave trade of Absalom... at least for the moment...
Jeryl pointed out Mudhaven (the eternally-damp slum that local workers lived in when they had nowhere else to go), but did not take them there. Finally, she had Shiro close his eyes as she took him to the Monger's Mart. His nose nearly exploded! Spices from around the world were bought and sold here. She waved incredibly-fresh star anise under his nose, bringing back memories of his mother's cooking. Shiro found and purchased enough fresh fruits from his homeland so that each of them could try one. He relished the taste of home and enjoyed seeing his friends try something that, for most of his life, he had taken for granted. He sighed at the thought of his family so very far away that a simple lychee fruit that could be picked from nearly any farmer's tree now cost over a gold piece!
Once they were done with The Coins, they had lunch at the market, ordering some spicy Vudran food suggested by Shiro (he wanted some of the food he got while traveling that area on the way to Absalom). Raesh found one dish that was particularly spicy and made her eyes bug out a little (although she still ate it).
On The Docks, Jeryl stopped them to watch The Beast, an enormous crane, as it unloaded a ship. The party was suitably impressed, and watched contentedly while munching on leftover bread. Jeryl declared The Beast the "only thing worth seeing in The Docks", bypassed Puddles entirely, and took them to the Foreign Quarter. Shiro was aghast to learn that only in the Foreign Quarter were visitors to Absalom guarenteed not to be sold into slavery! A law that seemed quite barbaric and certainly couldn't be good for traveling bards! Raesh wore a pensive look. She had called Absalom her home for so long, and had never realized the extent to which evil and injustice were allowed to flourish right outside the very walls she inhabited. Jeryl then described the history of the area: Originally an Irori temple dedicated to perfecting the body, what had started as a handful of onlookers had turned into stands, which had turned into a stadium, which had turned into the largest arena in the known world. Worshippers of Irori no longer practiced in the arena, but it was still an area to make quick coin if your sword was better than your finances at the moment. Anyone could sign up for a pittance at Pugilist's Hall and join in. No one in the party volunteered, so Jeryl moved on with them.
She brought them to the gates of the Pathfinder Society Grand Lodge, and after some discussion as to the trustworthiness of the Pathfinder Society, the party elected to enter. As soon as the butler recognized Raesh, Janiff Ivulxtin was sent for immediately. While they waited, the party was treated to exploring a 20'x20' table with an up-to-date illusory 3D map of the entire Inner Sea region. Janiff was delighted to see them, and offered them high tea. Shiro accepted the sandwiches, scones, and lemon curd gratefully, but wondered why they had burned the tea.
Janiff asked whether they would tell some tale of their adventure, and Shiro told the story of the flooding of Turtleback Ferry and the fight against Black Magga. He was hoping this might prompt more aid from adventurers for Turtleback Ferry. Janiff dutifully took down every word (at least his magical quill did), and he thanked the party profusely and offered them dinner. He also asked for another tale, but first the party asked for information. After a bit of back-and-forth Hi rolled a natural 20 on Knowledge:Local, and the party learned that over the months before his death, Lord Sylvester Horund was frequently seen with beautiful woman on his arm. This was so out-of-character (to be seen with the same woman more than once) that many other noble families took note of her. Nothing was known about this woman other than that she looked Varisian with her tan skin and colorful clothing, and her name was Larena DuPris. The party declined Janiff's further invitations, and teleported back to Olytrius immediately to share the news.
The party dismissed Jeryl for the evening and went inside. They reported Larena's name to Olytrius, but he didn't make his Knowledge: Local roll any better than the rest of the party, so he had no additional information. He said he would put people on it immediately. Olytrius asked Raesh to join in the evening worship and she agreed. Unlike the morning ceremonies, the evening ceremonies were full of songs and odes to Sarenrae. Much to Shiro's astonishment, Raesh was singing. Even more astonishingly, she had a beautiful (if slightly haunting) singing voice! He waited until after the services were completed and approached Raesh, telling her that he thought she had a wonderful voice and that he could pick hers out casually from all of the others that were singing that night. Raesh blushed a bit at having such attention paid to something which for her was so routine. He made it a personal goal to sing with Raesh somewhere for an audience! Such a great voice shouldn't be hidden away in a temple for a century!
As the party discussed what to do for dinner, the session ended.
*** End of session ***
Next Planned Session: Friday, 12 April 2013. I know, I know, at the top of this very post I complained about Friday night games. But Raesh's player is GM'ing an AP for the first time EVER (Second Darkness. Is anyone truly surprised?), and our whole group is so excited (Take us! Take us now!) that we're giving her every free Saturday until she gets into the swing of things. She'll be posting as GothBard in the Second Darkness thread. Support our GothBard!
Unfortunately, she's pretty sick today (the 12th), so we may have an ultra-short RotRL session just so she can prepare Second Darkness. Sorry, folks!
You know, all of my game sessions these days are "short" four-hour ones. The longer ones are only longer because of pauses for eating or snacks. Heck, the Skype-based game (using group video calls) is only four hours because after four hours (even with a paid service) the video is cut.
You'd be surprised at how much you can get done in four hours. :) (Especially with Hero Labs. Makes my paperwork woes go away mostly...)
OK, I just got my first, "Er, are you OK, dude?" PM (along with an awesome write-up of another GM's experience with the assault on Sandpoint), so I figured I'd better post *something*.
Here's the beginning of the April 12 write-up. The rest should appear over the weekend, and your regularly-scheduled updates should start appearing again now that we have the host of birthdays out of the way...
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Yes, it's been a LOOOOONG time. A combination of Raesh's player's illness, birthdays all around (my son, my brother, Shiro's player, and Raesh's player), Raesh's player starting her Second Darkness campaign, and our first-ever annual passes to Disneyland combined for a very, very busy April. And just for yuks, in Second Darkness Hi's player thought he was going to throw us all by playing "Taleck", Halek's long-lost, long-underappreciated brother, but even he was thrown for a loop when he discovered that I was playing a beautiful female angel (aasimar Life Oracle, wings and all). Shiro's player is a Varisian wizard, and yes, he's already hitting on my angel, though he'll deny it vehemently.
All that aside, May is upon us, and I hope to resume a weekly RotRL game and writeup.
Although we had a *very* unexpected combat, no one earned a Silver Tsuto Award. More like a James T. Kirk "double dumb-ass on you" award for a trio of hopelessly-outclassed assassins trying to take down Our Gang.
And so begins the recap of the April 12 game, with our next planned game being a reunion of sorts when we play on May 3 for the first time in 3 weeks(!!). Yes, another Friday game, but as I mentioned, our Saturdays are getting awfully busy.
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12-Apr-2013 Game
And so we FINALLY resume. As mentioned in the previous post, no one earned a Silver Tsuto Award this session.
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01-Abadius-4708 (Continued from last session)
After a bit of discussion, the party decided to visit Cayden's Hall for dinner, home of the world's largest nonstop festival. Legend had it that it was the very tavern where Cayden held his night of drunken revelry before taking the Starstone test and ascending to godhood. As they entered the vast wooden hall, they were greeted with great tankards of ale and plates of steaming food. Revelry was rampant, with people in various states of sobriety dancing, singing, and otherwise celebrating. A few sections of the hall, where particularly discordant drinking songs met and did battle, were unpopulated. The rest of the hall was quite crowded. A huge bonfire burned in the middle of the wooden hall. When the party questioned the wisdom of this arrangement, they learned that this was indeed the 15th hall on this very site, and it was the third such site. Most of Cayden's followers firmly believed that Cayden wouldn't know the difference anyway, so as long as the tavern was in Absalom and was called Cayden's Hall, he'd accept it.
Hi immediately got into the swing of things, climbing into the bonfire and dancing in the middle of it. Many revelers cheered and threw various objects at him, including the particularly heavy steins. Hi didn't mind the damage I rolled; he figured it was all in good fun. Shiro performed, Hi danced, and even Halek and Raesh seemed to relax. After a couple of hours, the party decided it was time to call it a night and headed back to the temple. They went their separate ways, but Shiro yet again turned into his tiny fox form and slept under Raesh's bed in the Second Paladin's "suite".
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02-Abadius-4708
Jeryl arrived about 10 minutes before Raesh completed her devotions, and waited patiently for the paladins and clerics to finish before coming back inside with Raesh and Halek and meeting the rest of the party. She asked them where they would like to pick up their tour, and suggested they continue in Westgate, picking up their clockwise tour where they'd left off.
While the party wasn't ready to trust Jeryl completely quite yet, Shiro was curious why it was so hard to learn anything about Larena DuPris, so he asked Jeryl about well-known town gossips and so forth, thinking he might at least be able to bring something back for Bethana, even if he learned nothing of DuPris. Jeryl confided that most of the gossip worth gossiping about occurred in Merchants Quarter, which was in the opposite direction from Westgate. The other significant source of information in Absalom was Grandfather Torch, a burned creature living in the sewers under Puddles, but getting to him was almost as difficult as affording his prices. The party decided to start their day in Merchants Quarter.
Jeryl's first stop was the Clockwork Cathedral, a massive iron construct/building that seemingly self-assembled nearly a century ago. She told them of the mysterious Assembler, who had arrived in an iron-hulled vessel, purchased the land, and apparently started the self-construction. She went on to describe it as the premiere wizarding school focusing on constructs in the Inner Sea. Rooms moved, opened, and closed in seemingly-random ways, and to move on to advanced studies students had to figure out these patterns to manage to attend classes. Hi was intrigued, but decided to put off taking classes until they had more time.
Their next stop was the Javelin Gallery, one of the best weapon stores in the Inner Sea. They were greeted by a salesman, and, upon seeing Raesh, offered to sell her a Holy Avenger. While she didn't have the money to pay for one, she asked whether she could hold it. The salesman carefully unwrapped it, unsheathed it, and handed it to Raesh. The sword sang for her! Raesh put it on her shopping list.
Jeryl suggested that they might be able to get their information at the Taurean Embassy, home of a small albino minotaur named Nuar. Unfortunately, the players collapsed into helpless fits of giggling comparing Nuar to Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer ("All of the other minotaurs, used to laugh and call him names..."), so they never got in their visit.
Jeryl rolled her eyes, sighed, and showed them to the Second Labyrinth, a tavern, gambling house, and brothel for the elite and/or well-to-do. The party had no interest, so she led them to their final destination in Merchants Quarter: The Grand Dance Hall of Kortos.
Jeryl did her best to explain the intricate dance of intrigue that went on in the hall: Anyone well-dressed and well-behaved was allowed into the lowest levels. Balconies circled above the lower levels, and the higher the balcony, the higher the prestige, and the higher the stakes. Money enough to bankrupt a kingdom was made and lost every day in the topmost levels. And yet in the center, the dance continued; any visitor whose voice was loud enough to disrupt the dance was ejected immediately, so all of the trading was conducted in the lowest whispers. The party was allowed into the lowest level, though Halek garnered more than a few impolite stares. A lone female Vudran dancer was performing at the moment. Shiro watched her for a few moments, but quickly turned his attention back to the matter at hand. As they mingled, he tried in vain to hear any conversations concerning Larena. After a while, they were approached by a page from a minor noble in the first balcony. He invited them up to discuss guarding a valuable caravan traveling east across Qadira and on to Kelesh. While Raesh was sorely tempted to visit the homeland of so many Sarenrae worshippers, they had far more important business, and turned the page down. He turned his nose up at them. "See if you get any better offers with that attitude!"
After two hours of fruitless searching and mingling, the party gave up and decided to continue their tour of the city. Shiro summoned Phantom Steeds and they raced across the city to Westgate, startling a multitude of passers-by who had rarely seen horses, much less Shiro's colorful mounts.
They continued their tour in Westgate, a middle-class residential district including some houses that had been owned by the same families for over 1000 years. The first stop of interest was the Fierce Stripe, a shop for everything badger. Unfortunately, our kitsune druid with a badger animal companion is in a different campaign, so, although the players were extremely interested in what was for sale there, the PCs, not so much. Jeryl pointed out the Guild of Wonders, a school for spies, assassins, and saboteurs. She told them that as long as the school didn't operate in Absalom without permission, it was allowed to exist. She also showed them Statue street, a street that was blockaded off once a year so that minor criminals could run the street in an attempt to escape a gorgon. Any criminals who escaped were pardoned. Most became statues, hence the name of the street. Shiro commented that the more he saw of Absalom, the less he liked its denizens. Raesh, Hi, and Halek had to concur.
They moved on to the Ivy District, center of the arts in Absalom. They immediately noticed a far greater percentage of elves and half-elves among the populace, though Raesh noted with some disdain that the elves tended to cross the street to avoid her as they walked along. They passed through the Flower Street Market, selling fruits, flowers, fine clothes, and objects d'art as well as cheap fortunes and 'discount' courtesans. They approached the Ivy District Park, and Jeryl told them about the legend that if the park were defaced, the topiary would come to life to defend the park. Bardic students wandered the park in profusion, some in white, some in green, and some in black. Many were performing on street corners. Shiro tried to perform, but a student immediately ran forward and stopped him. "You can't perform here! You're not a student, and you don't have a permit!"
Shiro was horrified. "You need a permit to perform in Absalom!"
"Oh, absolutely!"
Jeryl tried to explain that it was to protect the bardic academy, but Shiro would have none of it. He couldn't believe Absalom. Slavery was legal. Poisoners and assassins were tolerated. Prisoners were run down in the streets by gorgons. And bards couldn't perform without a permit. "Well, is there anywhere in Absalom I CAN perform without a permit?"
"Yes. Unlicensed performers can perform in the Flower Street Market."
Shiro magically amplified his voice. "I'm sorry, all of you. I was planning on performing a masterwork for you. But apparently I'm not allowed to because I don't have a license. So if you'd like to hear me, why don't you come with me to the Flower Street Market?"
A few curious onlookers followed the party to the market. Shiro started performing on his lute, and got a 36 Perform check. The audience applauded enthusiastically, and grew dramatically as he played. As he finished, a middle-aged female half-elf with pure silver eyes approached him. She smiled. "Young man, you perform magnificently! My name is Etrenne Rylwynn, Mistress of Strings at the academy. Would you care to play a duet with me?"
"Absolutely!"
Shiro and Etrenne put on a performance for the ages, his 37 not quite reaching her 42, but making for the best string performance any of the onlookers had ever seen. The crowd erupted in applause. "Young man, you are quite good! What is your name? Where did you train?"
"My name is Shiro, and I am self-taught. And I am not allowed to play anywhere else in Absalom because I don't have a license."
Etrenne smiled at his irritation. "Shiro, all you needed to do was ask."
She pulled a parchment out of her cape, added his name at the top, and signed it at the bottom. "Now you may share your music with all of Absalom."
She gave him a quizzical smile and continued, "But now I am afraid I have been away from my classes for too long. Hopefully we will see each other again soon."
She walked away, and Shiro was already perking up. "I have a license," he beamed.
Jeryl next led them to the Ivy Playhouse, the headquarter of the street performers and actors guild. Jeryl pointed out that, if Shiro hadn't been approached by one of the headmasters of the school, he probably could have gotten a license here. The playhouse was also (in)famous for its excellent theater, AND its risque theater.
Continuing her seemingly infinite knowledge of things seedy, Jeryl also pointed out Norgorber's Knot, one of the best poison and potion shops in Absalom. The party was not impressed. She gestured idly at the Perfumer's Conglomerate, but Shiro insisted on going in. The small mole-faced man behind the counter looked a bit startled, but quickly composed himself and asked Shiro how he could help him. Shiro pulled Raesh into the shop. "I need a perfume. For her."
The mole-faced man nodded. "Of course, of course. I have just the scent."
He rummaged around in the back for a moment, coming out with a small perfume bottle filled with black liquid. Shiro smelled it. It smelled horrible to his nose. "Oh, no, no, young man. Of course it smells bad when it's in the bottle. You must put it on her skin so that it mixes with her essence. Only then will its true scent be revealed."
Shiro was skeptical. He had Raesh smell it. She found the smell distasteful as well. The mole-faced man reassured her that it would smell wonderful once mixed with her skin. Dubiously, Raesh dabbed a bit on her wrist...
...and easily made her Fortitude save to resist the poison. Shiro wasn't as lucky, as the mole-face man stuck a poisoned dagger into his kidneys and twisted. Shiro yelped in pain, and combat started.
Unfortunately for everyone involved, Hi went first. And Disintegrated the little mole man. One failed save later, mole man wasn't feeling nearly as confident. His two red mantis assistants came out of the back room and managed to cut Shiro a bit more, but smouldering mole man was dropped by Raesh before he could do anything else. Then came Halek. Do I really need to say it? Red mantis assassins Did Not Like.
After a few minutes of discussion as to what to do with their newfound corpses, they stuffed them in their Bag of Holding, hung a "Closed" sign in the window of the perfume shop, and decided to get this batch of assassins back to the temple for questioning.
*** End of session ***
Next Planned Session: Friday, 3 May 2013. (already played)
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Ahhh...that felt good. Like heading back to the gym. I needed that. :)
Oh, just wait. The May 3 session was basically all about, "NobodysHome obeys the dice, no matter how much it hurts."
It's going out for review tomorrow morning, and should be up by Monday.
(And you did get a collective "Awwwwwww!" from everyone here for Raesh's Second Darkness campaign tonight -- congratulations! And yes, tomorrow is a Saturday RotRL at last!)
And a shout-out to useplanb if he's still reading this everlasting thread -- I convinced all the RotRL players in the Second Darkness campaign to do player journals a la your campaign journals, as it's much less work for the GM. But our next full SD session isn't 'til June 29, so it'll be a while before GothBard's first GM'ing thread appears...
... he says, eagerly, while sitting on Leilani's first two journal entries...
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03-May-2013 Game
Another Friday night, another short session, although this one definitely qualifies for "most hopelessly one-sided fight of the entire campaign."
My only excuse is that I vastly prefer interesting NPCs who can interact with the PCs in multiple ways, depending on how the PCs behave. And after describing what happened to my BBEG (after I spent 3.5 hours lovingly crafting him to take on the entire party with tactics specifically designed to cause them conniption fits) to the GM I give the most credit for making me the GM I am today, his response was simply, "That's what I love about your GM'ing. If your dice tell you to totally hose your BBEG, you don't bat an eye."
The one fumble was a doozy (fumble on your attack of opportunity, hitting yourself for over 40 points of damage AND allowing the BBEG to Dimension Door away), but it's not Silver Tsuto-worthy because the dice weren't done hosing my BBEG, so it didn't make much of a difference.
However, we are giving our first-ever Silver Tsuto Award to a player! Late in the session, with a particularly significant revelation, Hi's player laughed so hard he plummeted out of his chair and clocked his head against a backpack. I've never seen anyone laugh themselves out of a chair they weren't leaning back in before, so I figure that's Silver Tsuto-worthy!
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02-Abadius-4708 (Continued from last session)
My first question to the party gave them pause: "OK. You have 5 people, including Jeryl. Hi can teleport 4. Who's getting stuffed in the Bag of Holding with all the corpses?"
There were no volunteers, and the party decided to walk back to the temple. After all, it was broad daylight and they'd just dispatched a trio of would-be assassins. What could happen?
I let Hi roll the encounter die and started swearing when the 1 came up. How does the man do it? That's like three initial 1's in a row! And there were creatures in the Ivy District I most certainly did *not* want my pet BBEG to encounter. But what are the odds? I asked Hi's player to roll percentile dice, with 01 being the most fortuitous possible result for the PCs, and a 00 being really bad for them.
01. Of course. I winced. And as my friend put it, I allowed my BBEG to be totally hosed.
The party rolled Perception rolls, but their low die rolling continued, so only Shiro heard a woman's voice calling his name. He turned, and saw Etrenne hurrying towards him, a white envelope in her hand. I had everyone roll initiative, then rolled a random die. Shiro felt his soul being ripped from his body, but once again the nymph's blessing saved him and he made his Will save to stay in his body. He cried out, and said, "Someone's trying to steal my soul and it HURTS!"
Hi had the highest initiative, but couldn't figure out what was going on, and a low Perception roll didn't help. Shiro went next and spotted the glowing purple gem 140' away that was the source of his pain, but even with him pointing at it Hi couldn't see it. (We ruled that he was so short he must not have been able to see it through the crowds in the street.) The gem pulsed again, and suddenly Halek was no longer Halek. Raesh cursed and drew her scimitar, causing the crowd to flee or stare, depending on each person's whim.
With the entire crowd distracted by Raesh drawing on Halek, only Shiro, who was still watching the gem (and had an obscene Perception roll to boot) saw Etrenne take to the sky. That is, the silver dragon she polymorphed into Hasting the party and then taking to the sky.
GM Note: Yep. After reading Etrenne's description in the Guide to Absalom, I decided to go ahead and make her an adult silver dragon with 15 levels of bard. Who cares? It's just an NPC, right? And she's never going to be in a fight unless someone's insanely unlucky, so why not build her the way I imagine her? So yeah, the 1-01 combo added a CR-friggin'-28 dragon to the fight. The players couldn't stop giggling through the whole fight.
"Halek" looked nonplussed at this development.
Hi's dice continued to hate him, or the crowd wouldn't disperse, or something, because he could just not see that gem to save his tiny little life. He delayed again. Shiro performed, smiling the whole time, and watched the dragon. Halek tried to Dimension Door out of there, figuring that his party wouldn't be ready to hit him just yet. He was wrong. Raesh took her attack of opportunity and, needless to say, criticalled. The damage wasn't enough to significantly hurt Halek, but it was just enough that his ultra-boosted Concentration Check wasn't quite enough to overcome the damage. (Where's a bard with Gallant Inspiration when my BBEGs need it?) Then things got just plain ugly. Raesh, recognizing that her holy damage had hurt Halek, Smote Evil on him and used Fire of Entanglement. Another hopelessly-rolled save and Halek was bound. So much for casting! Time to leave this body!
Except... it was Etrenne's turn. She easily made her Perception check, swooped down, and started flying away with a limp body dressed in robes, crushing it as she flew. Shiro turned to the imprisoned Halek. "Excuse me? Is that YOUR body? I think it might have a problem..."
To make matters truly unfortunate, Hi might not be able to see a small gem, but he could sure as heck see an adult dragon. He followed her path, spotted the gem (finally), immediately recognized the Magic Jar spell, and used his delayed round to hit the gem with a Lightning Bolt. The gem was destroyed. Part of the roof of the building was destroyed. Halek's soul returned to his body in the Fire of Entanglement. And he had the good 'homecoming'. The necromancer returned to his body. In the clutches of a CR28 dragon. The necromancer Did Not Like.
Shiro continued to enjoy the show as the necromancer made his Concentration check to cast while grappled, went ahead and let the dragon take her attack of opportunity... and to everyone's astonishment she proceeded to roll two 1's in a row, fumbling and biting herself instead of the necromancer! He Dimension Doored away down the street! Freedom! Horrible, horrible freedom!
My ruling was simple: He'd Dimension Doored line of sight, at least 400' away. (Yes, his range was over double that, but I don't allow Hi to DD blind unless he knows exactly where his destinationn is, so I kind of have to be consistent. I'm a weird GM that way...) Any Perception roll under 40 didn't matter. The dragon was too busy chewing on herself to get a roll. So everyone rolled, and in utter proof that all dice in the universe hate me, Raesh rolled a natural 20, and it was her action. Raesh yelled, "He's right THERE!" and plunged two arrows into his chest. THIS was obvious enough that the rest of the party got their perception rolls. Etrenne made hers. And had a 400' charge while flying. I gave up trying to save the hopeless fellow. She bit him. By miracle, he survived. Unfortunately, Hi Dimension Doored himself, Raesh, and Shiro to him, and Shiro prepared Dispel Magic. How is my life? My necromancer made his Concentration check to Dimension Door away again, but Shiro successfully Dispelled it. Yep. The dice of the universe hate me.
In the final bit of necromancer abuse, Raesh plunged four more arrows into him. Killing him. And his Contingency Raise Dead went off. GM Note: Probably not legal by RAW, but I thought it was a cool effect, and he was high enough level for it.
Right under the feet of a Hasted adult silver dragon. Whose action it was. While he was both flanked and prone.
Yes, we have a new all-time record for most negative hit points. I stopped at -250. The players did not stop giggling.
Etrenne caught Shiro's eyes, her silver orbs gazing into his blue ones. "Tell no one."
She flew off.
Shiro turned to the gaping crowd and explained that they did not need to be afraid; the silver dragon had only been an illusion, and they were now safe from the evil necromancer. One massive Bluff check later, and most of the crowd was convinced that Hi had used an illusion of a dragon to distract the necromancer so they could finish him off.
As Halek and Jeryl caught up with the rest of the party, Hi cast Invisibility Sphere, and they stuffed the necromancer's remains (at least those they could scrape off the pavement) into the bag of holding. Jeryl was all astonishment. "You move in circles I've never dreamed of! You chat with the high paladin of Absalom! You play with the Mistress of Strings! And you have a silver dragon as an ally?!?!?"
Hi claimed that it was an illusion, and Jeryl looked skeptical. Hi help up a wand, complained about using up its last charge, and launched into a long-winded treatise on illusions and the vagaries and subtle techniques involved in casting them until Jeryl became tired of listening and let the matter drop.
As they walked up the steps of the temple, acolytes tried to greet them. Raesh ignored them and walked by. Olytrius' page told her he was busy and had asked not to be disturbed. She ignored him and walked by. She opened the door to Olytrius' study, walked in, and knelt. Olytrius looked up from a pile of papers, puzzled. Wordlessly, Raesh knelt and, reaching into the Bag of Holding, pulled out the head of the necromancer who had caused her friend such pain, presenting it at Olytrius' feet.
Olytrius stood, staggered to Raesh, bent over, wrapped his arms around her, and started sobbing into her shoulder. "Oh, little snow leopard! You've done it! You've brought him down!"
Raesh let him sob for a few minutes, feeling very awkward and knowing not what else to do. Eventually, Olytrius composed himself. "We need to get him to talk. I'll put Xerashir on it right away."
He grasped the head by the hair, punched it in the face, and carried it off. When he returned, he told them that Xerashir would take at least an hour before she could perform the ceremony, as she would be taking special precautions to make sure he talked the first time.
Once the head was being dealt with, the other bodies were handed over to acolytes for eventual questioning and disposal. Leading to NobodysHome's philosophical question of the day: How do acolytes really feel about adventurers constantly bringing unholy relics and mutilated corpses into their temples?
Olytrius asked them to recount the tale of the necromancer's demise. Raesh began to summarize, then glanced at Shiro and requested that he tell the tale to Olytrius properly. Shiro proceeded to relate the entire story in detail to Olytrius, only omitting mention of the dragon. When Shiro was done telling, Raesh told Olytrius, "There is something I must report. There is a silver dragon living in Absalom. She wishes to remain anonymous. Please respect her wishes."
Olytrius sat back, stunned. "Of course, of course. That's just... magnificent news!"
An acolyte knocked politely. "M'Lord, M'Lady, honored guests? The Mistress of Strings is here and would like a word with Shiro."
The party, puzzled, came out of Olytrius study and found Etrenne standing in the main hall, chatting with Jeryl, with the same white envelope in her hand. She smiled faintly when she saw the party approach, her silver eyes locked on Shiro.
"Shiro, I am glad I caught up with you. When I first met you, I noticed that you had a muse's mark. The instructors at the academy would greatly love to hear the tale of how you achieved this monumental blessing, so they would like to invite you and your guests to dinner."
Shiro was a bit puzzled, but not one to pass up a free dinner. "Uh, sure. What time?"
"What time would suit you?"
After a quick discussion and a few calculations, the party decided that they could be ready for dinner at 7:00 pm. Etrenne thanked them, handed Shiro the invitation, bowed slightly, and walked off.
Raesh turned to Olytrius. "Olytrius, would you like to leave the temple?"
"Oh, heck yes!"
GM Note: We had a bit of a discussion as to how worshippers of Sarenrae swear. 'By Sarenrae's teats' just sounds waaaaaaay over-the-top blasphemous, but we couldn't think of anything else that sounded good. Anyone come up with a non-obscene way to swear by Sarenrae? 'By the fiery wings of Sarenrae?'
The party spent the next hour cleaning up, dressing, and preparing for the meeting. Hi burned himself clean. Halek did... whatever it is that Halek does in that little cell. Shiro donned his best clothing. And Raesh, in recognition of the honor of being invited to the Academy, put on her dress and long boots.
As they stepped back into the foyer to wait for the carriage, Olytrius came out. He was still in full plate mail, though it was well-polished, and decorated with real gold. He gaped at Raesh. "Wow, little one! You look great in a dress!"
Raesh nodded stiffly, resigned to having to put up with compliments whenever she wore the dress.
Olytrius laughed at her clear discomfiture. The first free, open, light-hearted laugh they'd heard from him since they arrived in Absalom. In spite of herself, Raesh smiled a bit.
All washed and ready to go, the party waited for their carriage in the temple's main hall. They asked Olytrius whether he'd learned anything more about Larena DuPris, and he admitted he hadn't. Unfortunately, this was the first time they'd used her name in front of Jeryl, and Jeryl got to roll her Knowledge: Local. "Larena DuPris? The noblewoman? Everyone knows about her! She showed up a few months ago on Lord Horund's arm, beautiful and sweet as you please, and quickly started rising through the ranks of the Absalom nobility. You can't go to court without seeing her one someone or other's arm. They say she's the second most powerful person in Absalom, and Lord Gyr had better watch his back. Why didn't you tell me you were looking for her? We could go to court any day you like and I can point her out to you."
The party had a plan.
They climbed into the horse-drawn carriage. It had cushioned, cloth-covered seats, springs on the wheels to absorb shocks, and could easily hold the six of them. (Jeryl wasn't going to miss this dinner for the world.) The trip to the bardic academy was uneventful, and as soon as they arrived several bard apprentices acting as footmen ensured the proper parking of the carriage (though they gaped openly at the horses), and helping the ladies out of the carriage.
Olytrius quipped, "Yes, Rae'Sheleth! Be very careful stepping down! You wouldn't want to get mud on your beautiful dress!"
"As you command, oh Lord High Farmboy."
At this point, the GM questioned how it was possible that they had a gnome, a barbarian, and a kitsune in the party, and yet it was the two paladins who just couldn't behave themselves.
They were led into the dining hall and introduced to the masters: Rosvierre Ibanc, Master of Voice and grand master of the Grotto, an ancient human. Rumor had it that the academy would disintegrate once he passed away. Raesh mused that she had now met two humans older than her. Rosvierre seemed spry enough for his age, and many felt that his second-in-command, Durga Den, dwarven Master of Drums, would be perfectly capable of taking over the academy once Rosvierre passed away. Jaren of House Wycomb, a middle-aged human, was not only the Master of Pipe, but an accomplished fencer. They already knew Etrenne, Mistress of Strings, and the fifth member was Tia Yi Gan, Mistress of Script.
Dinner was perfectly amicable, with a decent meal (though not on a par with Ameiko's cooking, or even the Blue Bunyip), and Tia Yi learned that Shiro was a kitsune from Minkai, so they spent a short while talking in Minkaian, though Shiro promptly reverted to Common when he saw that he was excluding Raesh from the conversation.
Talk at the table started with questions from the Academy bards about the battle that afternoon. Raesh summarized in her usual terse fashion, and Shiro did not seem inclined to embroider the tale. "Is it true there was a huge silver dragon there?" one of the masters asked while Etrenne eyed Raesh keenly.
"Hi is a very accomplished sorcerer." Raesh deadpanned.
Hi grinned broadly. Raesh went on, "I fought a red dragon once, would you like to hear about it?"
Amid enthusiastic encouragement, Raesh asked Shiro to tell of the encounters where they had faced red dragons. Etrenne listened with delight and the talk eventually moved on to other subjects.
After dinner, the bards asked Shiro to recount exactly how he had received the Blessing of the Muse, and he did so, though he did not mention any explicit locations. He took particular care to describe the shipwreck and Vakrin Godra's masterwork. Shiro wanted the traveler's name and music recorded in the academy's archives, that he would be known for all time. But his key point was that he had not gone in search of a muse's blessing; he was only trying to do what was right, and he received the blessing because of that. Rosvierre commented, "It is as we thought; nymphs only fall in love with fighters. Therefore, all bards must travel with fighters if they want to receive the blessing."
Shiro protested that it wasn't because of the fighter, but because of his trying to do the right thing, without expectation of a reward other than knowing he had helped, and that was the reason the nymph rewarded him. The fighter was indeed her love... but not just any fighter would do, nor would it have mattered to travel with such.
Tia Yi was the first to speak after the story was done. "You see! It is through acts of selflessness and kindness that bards become blessed! It is as Etrenne and I have been saying! We must be teaching our students morality, and not just music!"
A heated debate exploded, with Rosvierre, Jaren, and Durga strongly opposed to any sort of 'moral training' for their bards, and Tia Yi and Etrenne strongly in favor. Raesh spoke eloquently and at length, and I wish I could have recorded it all (yet again), but the gist of her speech was that the academy should not be teaching 'Doing Good' as an end-all and be-all just to receive a muse's blessing, but instead to focus on the fact that performing good acts created such opportunities. She emphasized that good should be embraced not out of expectation for reward, but out of a knowledge that acting in a good manner brings benefits to all. Etrenne gazed intently at Raesh every time she spoke, weighing her words. After a good 20-30 minutes of real time, the debate ended and the bards voted. As expected, no viewpoints had been changed, and Rosvierre, Jaren, and Durga voted down any attempt to teach the bards any morals. Yep. Typical bardic academy all right! Shiro remained silent during most of the debate, other than to correct misunderstandings dealing with facts. He did not, and does not feel that you can teach someone to be good, or that telling an evil person that good actions are their own reward will have any effect at all. He plans to someday speak with Etrenne about this, but didn't feel that getting in the way of a lively debate was a good plan. Besides, Raesh was on a roll and it was fun to watch her speak so eloquently.
As the party took its leave, Tia Yi and Etrenne followed them. Etrenne spoke. "Rae'Sheleth, you argued very eloquently. I thank you for yet again bringing our students' plight to light. Thank you for coming. And Shiro, thank you for the tale. It was very enlightening."
They returned to the temple.
It was time to question the head. I'd planned on giving the head a reduced Will save to reflect being in a temple and having a high priestess with ample time and resources, but it didn't much matter. Rolling a 2 on your dead BBEG's Will save means he's going to talk... though because he was hostile towards the party he got a Will save on each question to determine how much information he gave.
GM Note: There's the whole, "Hostile creatures can try to use Bluff or provide incomplete information," so I figure he HAS to answer, and the Will save just tells how much he has to spill. Makes for interesting questioning.
The party asked their six questions:
(1) Who is in charge? "My mistress."
(2) What does Larena DuPris want with Rae'Sheleth? "I do not know. My mistress did not share that information with me. I know that we were to capture the drow alive and relatively unharmed. The rest could be killed, or captured for... experimentation."
(3) Where is Larena Dupris? "I do not know. When she needed me, she met me at courrt."
(4) What about the Red Mantis? "Those buffoons! They do not know what they are doing! The sergeant accepted a contract to kidnap someone instead of kill them. He has now realized that they are not competent at kidnapping, and wants to breach the contract, but cannot."
(5) What other plans are there in the works dealing with Rae'Sheleth? "A good question, but I do not know of any."
With one question remaining, Raesh asked everyone whether they were done. No one had any more questions. With a toothy, oh-too-eager smile, Raesh asked:
(7) In excruciating detail, leaving nothing out, tell me EXACTLY how it felt when the dragon tore you apart. I will omit the gory details, only leaving in, "It hurt."
After they finished questioning the necromancer, the party was all in favor of taking Olytrius out for a round at the Saucy Wench. Raesh led the way. She could not wait to show Olytrius the places she'd found, and was greatly looking forward to his reaction. As they stepped in, a welcoming cry of "Olytrius" resonated around the bottom floor. Raesh allowed no disappointment to show on her suddenly stony face. She could not help, however, reaching up and smacking Olytrius lightly yet solidly in the back of the head. He turned and asked, "What was that for?!?!"
"Olytrius. I was in that temple for decades. I never knew places such as this existed, and yet they know you by name here! Why did you never tell me of such things?"
"I never told you anything about Absalom because I didn't want to hurt you, little Snow Leopard. I knew that if you knew there was a place like this only a short walk from the temple, you would desperately want to come here. But I knew that Gregory wouldn't allow it. So I kept quiet so you wouldn't long for things you couldn't have."
Shiro pondered. This was NOTHING like what he would have done. He would have told Raesh all about all the interesting places he'd found, so she could live vicariously through him. What fun are secrets?
Raesh looked at Olytrius expressionlessly. "And what else have you never told me?"
Olytrius looked abashed. "Rae'Sheleth, you should probably sit down for this one."
Raesh remained standing, staring stony-faced at Olytrius.
"You have a sister."
GM Note: Yeah, I should have ended the session right there for a wonderful cliffhanger for all of you, but it wasn't all that late, and Raesh's player already knew the story, so we kept going...
"You know that I've been reading Icobar's journals. It turns out that he and a group of other paladins, clerics, and soldiers were exploring the area that would become the Worldwound when they were attacked by a horde of demons. They would have been destroyed to a man if a flock of angels and archons hadn't arrived to save them. Icobar fell in love with one of the angels and fathered a daughter with her. But Aroden fell before she was born, and Icobar sent the angel back to the Celestial plane to protect her and his unborn daughter. As far as I know, she's never returned to this plane. But she is of Icobar's flesh and blood, so you could probably call her 'sister'."
Hi Note: At this point Hi's player made the connection between Raesh's "sister" and the GM's character in the "Second Darkness" game run by Raesh's player (where Hi's player has a character who is Halek's younger brother) and laughed so hard he literally fell out of his chair. Fortunately neither the floor nor Hi's play was seriously injured.
Raesh was utterly and completely still for a moment. "I have to go."
She sped out of the Saucy Wench and proceeded on foot to the temple, walked straight into her cell, and closed and locked the door. Shiro stood and followed her out, thoughts of food pushed from his mind and concern clearly showing on his face. The rest of the group followed suit.
Olytrius arrived a few minutes later and knocked at the locked door. "Raesh? I didn't know. I only learned of this yesterday. I shouldn't have hidden it from you."
Silence.
Dejected, Olytrius walked away, wondering what he had done this time. Shiro did not go into Raesh's cell, feeling she needed some time alone this evening.
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03-Abadius-4708
When Raesh saw Olytrius in the morning for their devotions, neither of them said a word to one another. Once the devotions were complete, Jeryl was waiting for them yet again, and they returned to the Ivy District to continue their explorations. Jeryl led them into the Ivy District Park, and straight to the Shrine of Shelyn. There were seven oaks in a circle. Shiro went in, prayed to Shelyn, and left a platinum piece on each of the oaks. Raesh uttered a brief prayer paying her respects as well.
They moved on to the Vault of Abadar, marveling at the ramshackle look of the place, and even more upon learning that it was in fact one of the most secure buildings in all of Absalom. They tried to go into Alyssia's tea house to get some elven tea, but Alyssia would not let them in, assuring them that she had seen their 'performance' of the previous day, and did not need nor want that sort of business in her establishment. Raesh was resolutely stoic, convinced that Alyssia was refusing to serve her because she was a drow. They stormed off, then Raesh paused, went back, and demanded three teas to go. They were delivered in woven baskets of leaves. (I loved Raesh's player: "Oh, big deal! She took 5 levels of basket weaving! Maybe if she'd focused on some combat skills more she wouldn't be so darned terrified!") She gave one each to Hi, Halek and Shiro. The tea tasted much like mint tea with grass mixed in. None of them were fond of it, and most of the tea ended up being thrown away.
They wandered into the Wandering Monster, a small park with an amphitheater where people are always performing. "...bawdy material such as ribald songs, limericks, and puppet shows of questionable character."
At the moment, it was a particularly gifted bard reciting a litany of limericks. They stayed and watched for a while, then moved on to the Wise Quarter.
I pointed out the Forae Logos, the largest library in Absalom, to them, but they weren't interested in doing any research at the moment. Then came the Silk Castle, one of the best kite shops in the inner sea. Needless to say, the party ran amok. Shiro bought several kites, they spent time discussing kite flying, and they watched eager kite enthusiasts come and go, buying arcane parts or fabrics for their kites. Hi got a kite that looked like a fireball for himself, and a butterfly-shaped kite for Rilka. Shiro tried to buy Halek a kite that looked like a firepelt, but they did not have any, so he got him a cinderwolf instead. He also bought a wonderfully-colored box kite that reminded him of home. For Ameiko, he bought a pirate ship with many sails. He then bought a kite that consisted of a series of small leaf-like kites tied to a center ring that constantly swirled and changed shape as it flew, giving it a look quite like leaves on a windy autumn day. He chose this kite for Shelalu as he felt it suited her perfectly. Lastly, he purchased a black and purple shield kite for Raesh; just in case she would fly it with him someday. Shiro spent time to learn how to assemble and fly each kite and then had them and a few balls of string packed for travel in his handy haversack where they would be safe until they could find a proper place to try them out. All together Shiro spent near 50PP on these kites!
At this point, we hit our hard deadline of midnight, and called it a night.
*** End of session ***
Next Planned Session: Saturday, 11 May 2013, also known as "Raesh gets a family" day... (already played)
A quick update for everyone, just in case you're wondering whether I got hit by a truck or something:
Close. We're moving.
So I have 3 weeks off work, and just finished the first week of packing boxes. Unfortunately, this means two things:
(1) The May 11 writeup has to wait until I have the house sufficiently ready for the June 1 move. This may happen this week (I only have 3 'untouched' rooms left, but one of them is a doozy), or it may happen post-move. But I'll guarantee that by Tuesday, June 11, you'll have the May 11 writeup. What's a one-month delay? Nothing, I tell you, nothing!
(2) We haven't played since May 11, and it's unlikely we're going to play again before June 7, so a delay is kind of inevitable.
Post-move, we'll be back in our own house again (LOOOONG story), and we've already set aside the dining room as a permanent gaming area, so I think life will stabilize and we'll be back to (roughly) weekly updates.
:)
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A tiny bit of information, tossed out to keep the world in touch...
NobodysHome's move went well. :) Last I heard he had no internet service for a few days (they are getting it worked out).
Otherwise, all things are progressing on schedule.