| 17 people marked this as a favorite. |
And it begins...
And since I'm downright stubborn, I'm starting this in the Wrath of the Righteous section where it belongs, rather than buried in the "Campaign Journals" section where it gets mixed in with all the other AP/homebrew/random campaigns and is lost forever.
Anyone want to take bets on how long it takes before it ends up there? :-P
Anyway, for those not familiar with my ramblings, I first started with an "Overall Curse of the Crimson Throne Review" that spawned my love for the Paizo messageboards.
Encouraged by the denizens within, I followed up with a full-blown campaign journal, "NobodysHome's Rise of the Runelords Campaign". So far, that one's been my Magnum Opus, and it is still quite active (at least as of May 2014).
Next, inspired by Useplanb, I tried to start a set of player journals for Second Darkness in "GothBard's Second Darkness Player Campaign Journals" only to be deafened by the crickets, my own posters included. (No offense, CaroRose. I'm sure you're louder than a cricket.)
So THIS campaign journal will be very similar to my Rise of the Runelords one: A running, rambling description of the life and times of four intrepid adventurers as they bumble their way to greatness.
I'll write full backgrounds over the next few days, but our current cast is:
Jacob "Jake" Thorn, NG Male Half-Elf Fighter.
Kariss Trevelyan, CG Female Half-Elf Sorceress (Arcane Bloodline).
Rishi, her weasel familiar who I'm sure deserves a line of his own.
NoPrey, CN Male Tengu Bard.
Merissa Dovekirk, LG Female Human Cleric of Iomedae (Sun and Good domains).
So I won't hint at who's who quite yet, but with just the names, alignments, sexes, and classes, I'd love to see who thinks who's playing whom. And yes, there's a GM NPC in there.
And look ma! After all that talk of an all-paladin party, no paladins!
CN Tengu? Problem player alert! :P
I enjoyed your other journal (and i'm STILL waiting for the ending btw) very much so I look forward to following this one. You are a good writer and make the journals fun to read.
NH: What you do is you include posts talking about gaming aspects of the campaign. This makes it GM-related and keeps it in the proper section instead of the fluff area that no one reads.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Ah. Got backgrounds from both women. Way to go, girls! I'll post one tonight and one tomorrow.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Merissa Dovekirk was born to normalcy. At least, as much normalcy as is possible when you live in a city beseiged by demons on an almost-daily basis, your father is a cleric, and your mother is a paladin. While her family didn't have "old enough blood" nor "rich enough blood" to merit living in Old Kenabres, her mother's position granted the family a pleasant home in the Ring District just north of Old Kenabres. Her younger brother Derek had no head for the clergy, and dedicated his childhood to fighting imaginary enemies between lessons on religion, reading, writing, and demon-slaying. She was far more studious, and absorbed her religious studies with particular fervor.
Then, the dreams began.
She was walking along a beach at sunset, cool ocean water lapping at her bare feet, hand in hand with a beautiful woman with black hair and shining armor.
She was in the midst of a nightmare with foul beasts tearing at her nightshirt and threatening to drag her into the abyss, and a shining light from above sang to her, dissolving her fears and the monsters and freeing her.
She was twelve, and wondering whether to follow the path of the paladin or the cleric, knowing full well that she wasn't strong enough to wield a sword effectively, and a woman's voice spoke to her, "In great wisdom there is great power."
There were many more.
At first she told her parents, her brother, and her friends all about the dreams. She was too excited not to! It was obvious that Iomedae herself was speaking directly to her! But her parents just smiled and shook their heads, and her classmates teased her and bullied her, asking where Iomedae's protection was now? Fortunately, there was always Derek. Unusually large and strong for his age, bull-headed and stubborn, he could always be counted on to defend her. Everyone knew Derek would be a paladin... if he could only learn some self-control, discipline, kindness, and...
...oh, everyone knew Derek wanted to be a paladin, but his hopes of ever passing the rigorous examinations and rituals were nonexistent. The boy was just too dim, too headstrong, and too likely to break the paladin's code within an hour of swearing to it. But he was a defender of the weak, and he did pummel the living daylights out of anyone who doubted Merissa's dreams. And she loved him for it.
Their teen years were very difficult. It became more and more obvious that Derek would never become a paladin, and he became bitter and withdrawn. In contrast, Merissa shone as a clerical student, showing nimble hands, great wisdom, and the leadership expected in a religious leader. The clergy had great hopes for her. And this made Derek all the more bitter.
Perhaps it was her bitter brother, perhaps it was her devotion to her studies, or perhaps it was merely the situation they were in, with Kenabres under almost constant siege, that made dating nigh impossible. By the time she was ready to graduate and don her clerical robes at 18, she had barely experienced her first kiss, and that was interrupted by a demon testing itself against the wards and perishing horribly.
All these things passed through Merissa's mind as she prepared for her ordination. Today was Armasse, and she and several of her classmates would become official clerics of Iomedae, with all the rights and responsibilities associated with that title. As always in Kenabres, she wore her suit of second-hand mirror mail, her heavy steel shield, her longsword, and her light crossbow. The load was almost more than she could bear, but her mother had always told her, "Never go out of the house without at least two weapons."
And she was an obedient daughter.
She proudly wore the silver holy symbol Derek had gifted her when he got his first guard duty, strapped a waterskin to her belt (she figured she would almost certainly be nervous and get a dry throat during the proceedings), and headed for Clydwell plaza...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
NH: What you do is you include posts talking about gaming aspects of the campaign. This makes it GM-related and keeps it in the proper section instead of the fluff area that no one reads.
Hey, that "fluff area that no one reads" is where my Rise of the Runelords journal is! Waaaaah!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
CN Tengu? Problem player alert! :P
I enjoyed your other journal (and i'm STILL waiting for the ending btw) very much so I look forward to following this one. You are a good writer and make the journals fun to read.
LOL! Are you kidding? One session in and he was raving about how wonderful the caves were to be providing such magnificent things to the party! Shiny scales! Maggots and cockroaches to eat! Tengu heaven!
Honestly, he may be the first PC ever to have his alignment shifted to Good. I just don't see the player managing to play CN.
NH: What you do is you include posts talking about gaming aspects of the campaign. This makes it GM-related and keeps it in the proper section instead of the fluff area that no one reads.Hey, that "fluff area that no one reads" is where my Rise of the Runelords journal is! Waaaaah!
Nonetheless, talking about the technical aspects of the fights (and not very much about the story aspect) has kept my weekly Wrath of the Righteous report on the appropiate board. So you may want to include some of that here, too. Well, in my case I started that journal because I have some concerns about the balance of mythic gameplay, so I guess that may factor in that, too.
Well, tweaking the thread masters aside, I'd rather match what I did for RotRL because that was so well-received. (Thank you all who are coming on over here.) If it moves, it moves.
But there was a lively discussion in the "Website Feedback" section some time ago as to whether AP-specific campaign journals belonged in the sections for the APs or the Campaign Journals sections, and I was a strong arguer for putting them in the AP-specific sections. Even as a GM, reading story-focused campaign journals gives me insights as to how to run my campaigns.
In any case, I'll be quiet and get to work getting the second PC background written up. This IS supposed to be a campaign journal, after all! :-P
As always in Kenabres, she wore her suit of second-hand mirror mail, her heavy steel shield, her longsword, and her light crossbow. The load was almost more than she could bear, but her mother had always told her, "Never go out of the house without at least two weapons."
And she was an obedient daughter.
Not to nitpick or anything, but she's going to have a difficult time casting spells.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Not to nitpick or anything, but she's going to have a difficult time casting spells.As always in Kenabres, she wore her suit of second-hand mirror mail, her heavy steel shield, her longsword, and her light crossbow. The load was almost more than she could bear, but her mother had always told her, "Never go out of the house without at least two weapons."
And she was an obedient daughter.
...and this is why I love these boards. I always assumed that since clerics were familiar with shields their spells would avoid the dreaded Somatic requirement, especially since you read about so many "battle cleric" builds.
But no; she's got to have a free hand. She's far more likely to sheathe her sword to cast, but that'll impact her move actions.
Thanks for that. One more thing I've learned that I'll need to keep in mind. (Glad I haven't been blowing it for Leilani, but that's only because she doesn't use a weapon so her weapon hand is always free.)
EDIT: Never mind. This revelation led to open revolt both by me and my players. A paladin must have one free hand to lay on hands, leading to the swift "Lay on Hands" ability being utterly useless for a sword-and-board paladin (and arguably a two-handed weapon paladin if you don't allow letting go with one hand as a free action). In fact, if you play it this way, you pretty much cripple divine casters: Paladins can't cast or Lay on Hands at all while in combat, and clerics lose AC. So we're house ruling that divine casters bypass the "one free hand" requirement. It's how we've played our other 3 APs, and if we don't do that no one's going to want to play a divine caster.
EDIT 2 (post Magnuskn's post): I found this thread that makes an excellent argument for allowing bucklers or light shields, but not heavy shields. I'll have her switch to a light shield. Losing 1 AC and being less overencumbered will probably be better for her anyway; at least that's what I'll tell everyone.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Yeah, it's how I've GM'ed/played my divine casters since forever, too. I also find it spoils the flavor of those classes.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I have also always allowed divine casters to use shields without penalty, just not a big deal to me.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
No doubt this is why clerics use blunt weapons - a flat top so they can rest their weapon on the ground, cast their spell, and then pick up the weapon when they're done. ;)
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Uh oh. Another NobodysHome campaign journal. Looks like I am going to be looking back here every day or two for the next year.
I love reading you and your players adventures.
Uh oh. Another NobodysHome campaign journal. Looks like I am going to be looking back here every day or two for the next year.
I love reading you and your players adventures.
Aw, thanks! *Blush*
"Now if only the posts could start having something to do with the campaign," he muttered.
Work's kind of hectic today, but I promise at least one more character background! The menfolk are being slow, but I hear the fighter's background will arrive today.
The tengu? Does anyone really know where tengu come from anyway?
|
And so it begins!
I would love to continue reading the Second Darkness journal, but unfortunately, I'm playing that on these very boards at the moment, and I don't want the surprises spoiled for me. I've read up to the part where we're at, and no further. It'll probably be like that for awhile. I do enjoy seeing how other groups dealt with the same problems we did.
I suspect most groups didn't do as badly as we did on our first assault on the Goblin. We barely made it out with our lives, and had to regroup and rethink our plans. It sounds like your group did much better.
Fortunately, I'm not playing through Wrath of the Righteous, and can fully participate in this one! So, I'm guessing Raesh, Shiro[/I] and [b]Hi are the same PCs, and none of them would want to play a class exactly like their own from the previous game.
My guess:
Merissa is Raesh, Kariss[/I] is [b]Shiro, and NoPrey is Hi. Although, from what I know of Shiro's player, he loves bards and the one comment you've let slip makes me question if he's made another for WotR, so I might have those last two reversed.
My guess:
Merissa is Raesh, Kariss is Shiro, and NoPrey is Hi. Although, from what I know of Shiro's player, he loves bards and the one comment you've let slip makes me question if he's made another for WotR, so I might have those last two reversed.
Thanks for letting me know about Second Darkness -- I was a bit sad when you vanished, but that's an excellent explanation.
As for your guesses,
You're a whopping 1-for-4. But I am amazed that you guessed NoPrey is Hi. I simply *never* would have pegged the player as playing a VERY non-human bard. Totally outside of his comfort zone, as is the CN alignment. Raesh's player has already been pointing out situations where he made the "good" decision, rather than the "selfish (Neutral)" decision. Yeah, I'm going to love smacking him down with an alignment change to Good. Ought to be hilarious!
The daughter of Ondira and Lariel Trevelyan, two half-elven wizards, Kariss Trevelyan was orphaned when she was only 3 months old. Kariss never knew why she had been orphaned; only that unlike other children she did not have a mother or a father and it had something to do with the Worldwound looming large next to them. Fortunately, Kenabres had far more than its fair share of orphans, and the city government was well-prepared for her. She was taken in and raised by Yularr, a kind woman of Kellid descent who had lost her husband and son when they fought against Khorramzadeh the Storm King during his initial assault in 4692 A.R. Yularr spent over twenty years mourning her losses, but finally realized that she could help both herself and the crusades by taking in one of the multitude of orphans the city created on an annual basis. Although she was a bit old to be a foster mother, the Kenabres officials were more than willing to look the other way to allow her to raise a child of the crusades.
For as long as she can remember, Kariss has felt the ebb and flow of magic in her veins. As a toddler, when arcane energy was heavily concentrated near her, the feeling could become overwhelming, and she would collapse with cries of pain. Kariss was only three years old when she cast her first spell to discharge some of the arcane pressure within her. When questioned by her shocked foster mother, Kariss told her that her parents had come to her in a dream and taught her to cast the spell to help take away the pain. If Yularr was terrified by this revelation, she hid it well, and continued to raise Kariss as her own with love and kindness.
It was very soon thereafter that a small black weasel appeared and began to follow Kariss around. She gleefully adopted him and named him Rishi, and, to Yularr’s consternation, seemed to quickly bond with him as a wizard might to a familiar. Yularr soon noticed that Rishi’s presence seemed to alleviate some of the magical pressure, and Kariss was afflicted with the painful episodes far less frequently. Grateful for the relief of her foster daughter’s suffering, Yularr accepted Rishi readily (especially since he proved to be housetrained and a great dispatcher of vermin). As a child, Kariss always found it easy to make friends, but never really became close to any of the other Kenabres children. Her only constant companion was Rishi, whom she took to carrying in a small satchel at her side.
As she grew older, Kariss liked to read the arcane books that her parents had left behind. When she turned 13, Yularr revealed to Kariss the true circumstances of the events that had left her an orphan. Ondira and Lariel had belonged to a secret order called the Riftwardens, and they had been on a mysterious mission for the order when they disappeared. They were presumed dead, or worse. Kariss became determined to discover her parents’ fate, either proof of their demise or evidence to the contrary. She was drawn to arcane study and might have sought to become a wizard, but somehow she never seemed to find the need too pressing. Her spells continued to come to her easily without having to expose herself to the undisciplined arcane energies of young wizards-in-training, and she was satisfied gleaning what mystical lore from such books as she could find or borrow. Kariss was always friendly and likeable when casually interacting with others, but felt curiously detached from the city and its denizens, as if her destiny lay somewhere beyond Kenabres’ walls.
Now 22, Kariss has spent most of her time studying what arcane lore she can, and taking the occasional odd job to assist her foster mother. Feeling that she is finally of an age to journey forth, Kariss hopes to master the arcane energies she feels within her and to find out once and for all what happened to her parents so many years ago. A true child of Kenabres, she is always prepared for the event of an attack, and is eager to leave on her search as soon as the opportunity presents itself. In the meantime, she and Rishi might as well attend the festival of Armasse to pass the time...
|
|
It would have been fun talking with Leilani from between our parallel Golarions. We could have commiserated about how rough it is being Lawful Good in Riddleport.
Chalk that up to luck. I figured NoPrey had to be a PC - that story was too weird to be a DMPC. "Tengu raised by catfolk" is too close to "drow raised by humans" for Raesh, and since Shiro was the bard last time, Hi was the most likely.
By the way, how do you pronounce his name? Like "high," or like "hee?"
It would have been fun talking with Leilani from between our parallel Golarions. We could have commiserated about how rough it is being Lawful Good in Riddleport.
By the way, how do you pronounce his name? Like "high," or like "hee?"
Yes, I'm having great fun having Leilani realize just what a scumhole Riddleport is (along with most of her allies). It's too bad you didn't read on to the part where her "allies' fed the captives to sharks and laughed about it. Now THAT was an RP moment!
"Hi Ichiban" is horrifically mistranslated Japanese for "first flame". We pronounce it "high", as in "Short for 'Hello'". Though proper Japanese would be "hee".
And Raesh's player says, "No, a drow raised by humans is like a catfolk raised by tengu. It's the prey raising the predator."
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I think I read that part. Very beginning of the second book, on the boat, right? We're on the terrible, terrible island filled with notlions at the moment, in the cave network.
That's why I asked - too many years of playing Legend of the Five Rings makes me think "hee" when I see that next to "Ichiban." Just curious.
And I concede the point to Raesh. I'm not just saying that because she could destroy me with a thought. Honest.
I think I read that part. Very beginning of the second book, on the boat, right? We're on the terrible, terrible island filled with notlions at the moment, in the cave network.
I believe the correct term is "Vorne Kitties". (I love how every group gives them a different name.)
Though I'm really trying hard to get this back on track as a campaign journal. I have been informed that another background should be arriving today.
Boy, the men are slow writers!
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Jacob Thornbriar is called Jake by his friends and Thorn by the rest.
Jake is the son of Eliza and Denub Thornbriar, purveyors of finely crafted goods, devilishly simple devices for use in the never ending war against the forces of darkness. That is to say, his father was a weapon smith and his mother polished, sharpened and fixed weapons using a combination of elbow grease and Repair spells. For most of his life, he, his brother and his two sisters lived a very uneventful existence helping around the shop or otherwise making mischief. He was raised a follower of Abadar and learned that a deal is a deal; though some are better than others.
One fateful day that would all change. Jake was running a delivery to a supposedly safe "encampment". A number of broken weapons had left the soldiers there in need of some replacements; the order had been filled and he was on his way to deliver it. Unfortunately Jake managed to get turned around and wandered into the contested lands where he was immediately beset by demons. Though his family realized he was missing quickly it was hours before he could be located. The torture left him unconscious for days and unresponsive for more than a week. The healers said that he would recover and they were correct, though to this day Jake holds a bit of a grudge.
Once he came of age Jake gave up the merchant's life and joined the town guard. His keen senses and his deep-seated need to protect those in his charge earned him a place on the wall. He still holds his grudge and someday knows he'll get a chance to even the score.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
NoPrey never knew his father.
While he was still but an egg, his father heard the news of the Storm King's assault on Kenabres, declared for queen and country, and ventured forth on the Fourth Crusade. His mother dared not leave her clutch to follow him, and was forced to stay behind for several weeks until her children hatched. Once he and his brother and two sisters had hatched, his mother "borrowed" a wagon filled with straw and a horse to pull it and headed west, hoping to join her husband in Kenabres.
Unfortunately, travel with young chicks is slow and difficult, and it took weeks to cross Mendev. The trip was not made any shorter by the frequent stops and detours NoPrey's mother was forced to make to show off her younglings to relatives scattered across Mendev and northern Numeria.
In fact, it was at a stop in northern Numeria that NoPrey would meet his future parents. Years ago, while she was still a traveling medicine woman, his mother had come across a catfolk woman whose leg was trapped in a strange metal device. Not knowing what to do, and not understanding the woman's pleas, his mother did what comes naturally to tengus: She pecked at the blinky lights. Whatever gods were watching that day guided her beak and she disabled the device, releasing the catfolk woman.
At first, they got along splendidly: The catfolk woman did not eat her, and she did not peck out the catfolk woman's eyes. As trust grew, she bandaged and splinted the woman's leg, and they learned that they both spoke a few words of the common tongue. With no urgent business and the possibility of a reward at the end, NoPrey's mother took the time to nurse the woman back to health. After many weeks, the woman could walk again and the two of them went in search of her tribe, a nomadic band of catfolk who traveled northern Numeria looking for artifacts to research or sell.
By the time NoPrey's mother met the tribe (who, much to her amazement, did not eat her), she and Horiya (the catfolk woman) were fast friends, and spoke a horrific mixture of Catfolk, Common, and Tengu. They laughingly called it their "Secret Language". The tribe was grateful to NoPrey's mother, and presented her with a small shiny artifact; they had no idea what it did or whether it was still active, and she was happy because it was shiny.
Returning to the present, NoPrey's mother knew that she would have to show her chicks to Horiya or she would never hear the end of it, so, sighing, she drove the wagon south towards Numeria. By the time she found Horiya's tribe, weeks had passed. By the time they had caught up on old times (Horiya was now married), allowed the kittens of the tribe and the chicks to play together (under close supervision), and bid each other a fond farewell, it was several months since her husband had left!
NoPrey's mother hurried northwest, eager to be done with familial obligations so she could get to her husband. She had not heard from him since she left the catfolk, and worried for his safety. Unfortunately, her rush would be her undoing. Her mind was still on her husband and the catfolk when she passed the sign written in Tengu that read, "Quarantine". Her visit to her first cousin twice removed would be her final stop. The Avian flu tore through her family as it had the rest of the tengu community, and the clerics who could cure it were too many days' ride away. NoPrey was the only survivor.
First, word was sent to his father. It took days to receive notice that he was missing in action. Next, word was sent to his home village. After several weeks, the reply was that the tengu village was not interested in welcoming back any tengu who had been exposed to such a deadly virus. NoPrey's other relatives had similar fears, and none would take him in. The village was at a loss. Their entire tengu population had perished, and they had no idea what to do with the sole survivor. Some argued he should be sent to Kenabres to be raised as any other orphan of the crusades. Others found this cruel, and pointed out that his mother had been talking of a close friend among the catfolk.
Everyone found this agreeable and an emissary was sent. Horiya, horrified that her close friend had perished so soon after visiting, of course agreed to adopt NoPrey as her own. She was expecting kittens within a few months anyway, so what would one more mouth to feed mean to them?
Thus, NoPrey was adopted. While Horiya knew his proper name, she had great trouble pronouncing it, especially the beak click at the end, so she taught the catfolk children that he was not prey, but a friend. The children, of course, immediately shortened this to "NoPrey", and NoPrey he remained.
Several months later, Horiya had the expected litter of kittens and NoPrey became the "Older Brother" to them. As they grew up together, he told them stories and sang them lullabies when it was time for them to go to bed. At first, he did it to shut them up as fast as possible. Tengus prefer to go to sleep the moment the sun sets. Kittens? Not so much. However, over time he found that he really liked doing it, and as his litter mates grew and moved on he missed the stories and the songs.
Knowing that he could not remain with the catfolk forever, he eventually left the village and started traveling with caravans to learn the songs and stories of the world. He came to Kenabres intending to seek more information about his father, but quickly learned that prejudice runs deep in Kenabres and he was forced to stay in the nicer parts of town for fear of being beaten, robbed, or worse. Many of the town guard started recognizing him on sight, and would direct him to a particularly-tolerant inn or tavern where he could play to earn some coin for the night. He quickly became known as, "The Bird Bard", and not only the town guard but the local clergy and nobility recognized him. His performances were not particularly memorable, but he was unique, and carved himself a small niche in Kenabres' culture.
Though he has a Tengu name and is proud of his original heritage, he uses his adoptive family's nickname "NoPrey" among non-Tengu, partly since most races can't pronounce his real name correctly anyway. But it is also a way of keeping the connection to the family, and adoptive mother, who raised him for most of his life.
Coolies! :)
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
03-May-2014 Game
OK, this hardly counts as a "game", since it was a 5-minute session wherein I read the introduction to them, but it did get them hanging on the edge of their seats for the "real" game the next day, so I considered it a smashing success...
=====
16-Arodus-4713
Jake got up at his usual hour, put on his "mirror armor", grinned once more at the horrifically-inappropriate name for the faded steel plates, wolfed down a quick breakfast, and headed for duty. He knew that Armasse would be a madhouse, and his job was to keep the peace, at least as best as he could. Other than the much larger-than-usual crowds, nothing on this sunny morning indicated that anything was wrong; there were no sulphurous smells in the air, no wings in the sky; nothing to indicate that it would be anything other than yet another ordinary Armasse in yet another ordinary year for Kenabres.
And this was a Good Thing.
Around 10:30 am he headed for Clydwell Plaza, knowing that even though the festivities didn't officially start until noon, there were likely to be more than a few fights over prime viewing positions. This year's "graduating class" wasn't that much to speak of: Two paladins and half a dozen clerics, but everyone wanted to be around when they got ordained, as if that would make some of the goddesses' blessings rain down on them as well. He knew several of the clerics on sight, and of them the only one whose name he knew was Merissa Dovekirk, also known as, "Speaks with Iomedae, or herself." At least she probably wouldn't be babbling about another dream about Iomedae today.
Glancing around the courtyard, he saw NoPrey setting up in yet another horrifically-inappropriate place. No matter how many times he had to move the tengu, he always felt bad doing it. NoPrey seemed like a good enough guy, but looking like a miniature vrock in a town full of demon-hunters was not a path to an easy life. Since it was still early, he hailed NoPrey and moved him over to the merchants' area. It was much closer to where the clerics would be ordained, and at least most of the merchants were likely to recognize him.
Once NoPrey was settled in, he decided to take post near him, just in case...
-----
Kariss was bored. Yet another Armasse. Yet another year of learning nothing about her parents. The magic inside her itched, and she cast yet another Prestidigitation before the irritation turned to pain. The sensation had been particularly persistent this morning, she hoped it wasn't an unlucky portent. She decided she would at least go watch the festivities. Rishi snuggled into his pouch at her belt and she headed off.
At the plaza, she spotted the Bird Bard getting ready to play right next to the merchants. She had never heard him, but she had heard OF him, and she had to suppress a smile. Whoever had set up that little arrangement had quite the cruel sense of humor. She moved closer so she could hear both the bard and the merchants' reactions.
-----
At noon on the dot, Lord Hulrun started the ceremony. The eager young would-be clerics and paladins gathered in their best fineries, and looked both resplendent and pathetic in comparison to their elder veterans. Lord Hulrun took the platform, resplendent in his armor, and cleared his throat.
Then, Hell broke loose. Literally.
To the west, a bright light, bright as the sun, lit the horizon like an artificial sunset. Moments later, the sound of a thunderous explosion ripped through the air. The Kite, the fortress that housed the Wardstone, was gone, replaced by a mushroom plume of fire and smoke.
From a few feet from Lord Hulrun, Terendelev leapt into the air. The ancient silver dragon had been in human form to observe the ceremony, but was quickly aloft to investigate the Kite. Her flight was short-lived. Before her wings had beaten twice she was assailed by none other than Khorramzadeh the Storm King, the balor demon who had tried to sack Kenabres barely 20 years ago!
As the two clashed in the air, the streets exploded with demons. Chaos was everywhere.
Terendelev, sorely wounded, crashed into the facade of the cathedral, closely pursued by Khorramzadeh. As that fight ended, a titanic demon, larger than all the others combined, burst forth from the ground.
The ground could not withstand this insult and a crevasse cut the entire plaza, tumbling dozens of people, Jake, NoPrey, Merissa, and Kariss included, into the abyss. As they fell, they saw Khorramzadeh's sword coming down to behead Terendelev. As the final act of her long existence, she cast Mass Feather Fall, saving many of those plummeting to their deaths, but not all of them.
Their last sight before they were engulfed by the ground was Khorramzadeh lifting Terendelev's head in triumph.
Then there was blackness.
*** End of Session ***
Next Planned Session: 04-May-2014 (Already played).
Yeah...WotR's beginning is awfully damn metal.
Remember how I said I brought tears to my players' eyes (well, 2 of 3 of them) with their mythic ascensions in RotRL? Well, that opening brought tears to my eyes, so I worked hard to rip it into my players.
Let's just say I'm going to make sure that when they finally face the Storm King, he shouldn't last a round...
I'm a bad man sometimes...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
This is delightful! Love the character backgrounds. This is going to be fun to keep up with. Can't wait for more!
Thank you! Wonderful to have new people reading!
As I posted on my RotRL thread, I'm out in the wilderness for the next 3 days, so I'm afraid the next writeup will be early next week. (A certain ravening RotRL group is waiting for me to finish writing up the final battle and post it on that thread, so I think I might have to prioritize that one...)
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
04-May-2014 Game, Part I
And here we go!
My overall impression so far: There are too many NPCs that travel with the party (I'm running 4 characters and my three players are running 3 total. There's something wrong with that...), and I am noticing that the NPC backgrounds (Millorn, Chief Sull) are far less 'robust' than in the other APs I've run.
On the other hand, the story is utterly riveting. I can't stop reading ahead. The whole section on exploring Kenabres post-attack is just too incredible; I suspect we're going to spend ages up there. The tagalong NPCs add a nice flavor to the mix, and it's fun watching Kariss try to keep the peace between everyone. But this is definitely an AP that would benefit from an "assistant NPC roleplayer" who just sat around playing all the NPCs. (I even tried to get a friend to play Horgus Gwerm, because Gwerm was just way too much like his own characters for it to be a coincidence. But no luck!)
Anyway, let's return to the caves:
=====
16-Arodus-4713 (Continued from last session)
The roar of tumbling rocks and cacophonous echoes of battle above faded quickly as the party fell down, down, down, into the blackness, their only sure company being the tumbling avalanche that seemed to be accompanying them into the dark depths. Finally, they struck ground, most of them emitting an "Oomph" or an "Oof" or a "My tuchus!" as they hit the ground.
For a second or more there was nothing but silence, breathing, and blackness. Then, a woman's voice canted a simple cantrip and light exploded in the chamber.
"Put that out," a man's harsh voice erupted, "They'll see us!"
Kariss blinked in the light and reached out with her mind, confirming with Rishi that he was safe and unharmed in the satchel she always wore. With Rishi's reassurances that he was safe, if a bit shaken, she decided that more than anything else she needed to silence the man before he attracted undue attention. Uncertain as to the nature of her new companions, she decided to keep Rishi's presence to herself for the moment. "We were attacked by demons. They can see in the dark, can they not? Would be not be better off being able to see our enemies?"
The man harrumphed, but did not contradict her. The woman with the light stood. Kariss recognized her as one of the clerics who had been being ordained that day. Merissa, was it?
Jake stood as well. He recognized Merissa, "She who talks with Iomedae", and was thankful that they had at least one person capable of providing light to the survivors. Even better, she would probably be able to heal the injured. He quickly scanned the surroundings, drawing his sword and checking for approaching enemies.
NoPrey looked up. And saw earth. Confused, he blinked. It was then that he realized he was upside-down, propped against several of the rocks of the rubble. One of the clerics from the temple was providing light, and a town guard was here as well. Hallelujah! The town clergy and guard had always protected him before, and here they were again, ready to keep him safe!
Horgus Gwerm stood, still not satisfied with the answers he had received. "You! You're a town guard! Why didn't you protect the town? Isn't that your job! I order you to escort me back to the surface! I order you to keep me safe! I order you..."
Kariss tartly interrupted. "M'Lord, while I believe our esteemed cleric's light will not attract undue attention, I am concerned that excessive noise may cause further rockfalls, or may attract something from the darkness. I recommend silence."
Gwerm scowled at her but still whispered, "Guardsman, what is your name?"
Jake had dealt with men like Gwerm countless times before. There was no point in antagonizing him, and, if they all managed to get out of this alive, someone might pay to see him alive, though Jake couldn't be sure who. "Jacob Thornbriar. Jake, m'Lord."
Gwerm was obviously satisfied at being addressed as "M'Lord", and did not seem to notice that Merissa was completely ignoring him, looking around the vast chamber they were in. A low moan caught her attention. She and Kariss hurried over to an elf, his face a twisted ruin of gore and burnt flesh. "The light... why can't I see the light?" he asked.
Seeing his ruined face, Kariss tried to be reassuring. "Ooh! Ah... I have some bad news for you... I am sure we can heal you right up once we reach the surface."
"That bad, is it?"
The elf ran his hands over his ruined face and moaned a bit more. Merissa, taking the clue, channeled energy. While there was still no sign of his eyes, his face did heal somewhat and he sighed a bit. "Thank you, cleric."
Another faint sigh of relief came from the rocks.
Kariss, Jake, and Merissa hurried over to find a woman trapped, her leg crushed under a huge boulder. The healing spell had stopped the bleeding, but had healed the leg at an awkward angle. When Kariss asked the woman why she hadn't called out for help earlier, she explained that she hadn't known whether they were friends or foe. Merissa, Jake, and Kariss worked together to lift the rock off the woman's leg. The shifting weight caused dozens of small rocks to tumble dangerously down the slope. They quickly carried her away from immediate danger. As Merissa channeled again to heal the woman and the elf, Jake took notice of an enormous bear-sized spider standing motionless at the edge of their light. He moved towards the threat, Merissa following him.
Two enormous maggots burst forth from the spider's corpse and charged. Fortunately, their feeble mandibles were no match for Jake's armor, and he and Merissa easily dispatched them, with the help of Anevia shooting from behind. Gwerm was more than a bit critical of Jake's skill with a scimitar. Once the maggots were dispatched, NoPrey sprang. "Food!" he cried. What a wonderful delicacy they had found him!
As NoPrey started gorging himself, chattering on about how good the maggots tasted since they were fresh and how hard it was to get this kind of quality at the markets of the city and how everyone just HAD to try some since it was never this good anywhere in the city (much to the disgust of the pickier eaters in the party), Kariss asked Merissa to bring her light closer to the landslide, hoping to find more survivors. Merissa's light showed something glinting in the rubble. Mouth still half-full of maggot, NoPrey sprung into action.
"Shineys!" he cried out as he raced to look at the rubble.
Kariss went with the tengu, worried that in his excitement to grab the "shineys" he might cause a landslide, and also to check for other victims in the rubble. While they were exploring, Merissa focused on channeling one more time, Gwerm complained that they weren't taking him anywhere, and the elf (Aravashnial) and injured woman (Anevia) sat quietly and accepted their healing.
NoPrey approached the "shineys". It turned out that they were four perfectly-preserved silver dragon scales, obviously lost by Terendelev in her final battle. He was now convinced that he had died in the attack and was now in Tengu Heaven. He was saddened by Terendelev's death, but first fresh giant maggot and now shineys?!?! He snatched one up. Immediately his mind was overwhelmed with a sense of loss and sadness, and at the same time a feeling of hope for the future. He understood: Not only was the scale shiny, but it would protect him from cold and electricity. Carefully, he picked up another one. Not only did this one not have the feeling of the first, but on picking it up, both stopped "talking" to him! He squawked in alarm and dropped the second scale. The first resumed "talking" to him. NoPrey pointed out the scales to Kariss, not wanting to leave memories of Terendelev behind, but not wanting to lose this last connection to her. Kariss experimentally picked up a scale. She, too felt the sadness, loss, and hope, and she, too, knew that the scale would protect her from cold and electricity.
GM Note: I had each person who picked up a scale roll 1d4 for the effect. Seemed more fun to me than forcing everyone to get a different "power" whether they wanted it or not.
Kariss looked carefully at the unstable rubble leading back to the surface, and came to the inescapable conclusion that there was no exit this way. They would have to take what they could scavenge and forge ahead, hoping the caverns would lead to the surface eventually. She knew, she was only a fledgling sorcerer and not much of force to be reckoned with. Casting a critical eye over her companions, she decided that their best chance of survival was to remain together and work as cooperatively as they could. She resolved to be as conciliatory as she needed to be to keep the group together... who could say which of them might have the single skill that would save them all?
Kariss carefully took a scrap of cloth and wrapped the other two scales and handed them back to NoPrey. While losing the voice was unfortunate, he was more than willing to carry them to preserve Terendelev's memory. Kariss then resumed her search for survivors, or even the deceased that might have useful gear with them. Unfortunately, there were clearly no survivors in the rubble, and she dared not dig for corpses for fear of causing further landslides.
Thinking carefully, Kariss approached Jake and took him aside, out of easy earshot of the others. "Sir, you are obviously the foremost fighter among us, and these caves are obviously dangerous. Perhaps one of these scales will help."
Jake accepted the scale, and immediately knew that he would be able to disguise himself as another creature.
GM Note: While I wondered aloud at how pointless it was to give the fighter an item that gave him +4 to his Bluff rolls, Jake's player pointed out that it was the absolute best possible scale for a fighter to have: He could use Alter Self to become a dwarf and he'd immediately get +2 Strength and Darkvision. What a boon!
As the party set off, the wounded elf, clearly a caster of some skill, was surly and refused help from any but the cleric. All Kariss' offers of aid met with short rebuffs. Her temper sparked, but as she opened her mouth to tell the elf where to go, she checked herself. Jake, was obviously a fighter of some experience, and the only other who looked capable of assisting him in the front lines was the cleric. Obviously she should not be hampered guiding the blind mage, when there was a sorcerer who would not be missed in combat who could do the job. "Master Aravashnial, I am sure that you are angry and frustrated, having been deprived of your sight and in a strange place. I know that were I in your position, I most certainly would be! But we need Mistress Merissa to be able to fight, and I am but a mere sorcerer. Could you not trust me to guide you?"
GM Note: At this point, Kariss' player really came into her own. Anevia had been healed to full HP and was therefore already helpful. Kariss played Aravashnial like a flute, knowing exactly what to say to him and how to treat him to make him feel like a useful member of the party. Her claim is that she simply imagined what it would be like to be a powerful wizard suddenly blinded, and she treated him as she would want to be treated, but it was really hard not to move Aravashnial over to helpful as well, especially with Kariss' dual 20+ Diplomacy rolls. Gwerm... was Gwerm. But she did her best!
The party gathered everyone together, Jake and Merissa in the fore, Anevia limping slowly along behind them, Kariss assisted Aravashnial along next, quietly describing everything she saw to him in great detail. Gwerm and NoPrey brought up the rear, keeping an eye behind them. They chose to follow the left wall, exiting the large chamber in which they had been so unceremoniously dumped via the northern of the two narrow passages that exited the room. Perhaps fifty feet along the way, the passage widened into a chamber of sorts. The chamber had obviously been used before, with a fire pit, bedroll, and pile of refuse including bones, broken equipment, and rubble.
As Jake and Merissa approached the camp, two dog-sized cockroaches charged forth to defend their domain. NoPrey nearly squeed in delight! He was most certainly in Tengu Heaven!
As with the maggots, the roaches were no match for Jake's armor and quickly succumbed to his, Anevia's, and Merissa's combined efforts. After seeing Anevia in action, Jake simply handed her half of his arrows. "You're better with these than I am," he said.
NoPrey was already stuffed, but at least sampled the roaches' delicious innards and packed away the parts he knew would keep for a while. Gwerm managed not to hurl, but did continue to hurl insults at Jake's fighting style. NoPrey had had enough. "Perhaps YOU can do better," he asked, offering Gwerm his rapier.
"Why thank you! This will do quite nicely!"
NoPrey nearly squawked! "You can't have it! You can just borrow... no... rent it! I want 50 gold pieces a day!"
Gwerm looked NoPrey straight in the eye. "Oh, you want a bargain, do you? Well, I'll tell you what. I'll 'rent' this rapier for you for the rest of our trip underground, and I'll pay you... (he eyed the blade carefully)... one silver penny a day for it!"
"Deal!", NoPrey squawked, though he immediately worried that he had been taken advantage of.
Going through the refuse, they found bits of rope, the bedroll, candles, a fishhook, and a remarkably valuable copper brooch depicting a bat perched on a mushroom. Grateful for her masterwork backpack, which made everything easier to carry, Kariss packed away all of the booty (save the cockroach carcasses).
As they moved forward, they realized they had missed an entire passage and decided to go back and explore it, just in case it might have additional supplies. Sure enough, returning to the original chamber and taking the second passage they spied a backpack on a ledge high above them.
Several failed Climb rolls later, Aravashnial offered to Levitate one person to get the backpack. The party gladly accepted, and with Kariss guiding Aravashnial's spell, he levitated Jake up to retrieve the pack.
They proceeded down the second passage, finding that it quickly rejoined the first so there was one sole passage leading them away from the site of their fall. A cave viper briefly interrupted their walk, but Jake quickly did away with it and, without a word, passed it to a now-rapturous NoPrey. Shineys, maggots, cockroaches, and snakes! What had he done in his life to deserve such a wondrous afterlife? Since he was already full and he knew that humans would eat snake, he suggested that the humans use it for food. Anevia butchered it expertly, and they carried it along to supplement their meager supplies.
The passage remained quite boring for several hundred feet before it widened into a large chamber. In the chamber was a large stone building, almost a bunker of sorts, with an emblem of a huge hammer on the side. Merissa identified the building as a temple of Torag, though it looked to be in some disrepair.
As Jake and Merissa approached, a bloated giant fly attacked them, finally managing to penetrate Jake's armor with its mandibles. They dispatched it, and Merissa examined the wound for signs of infection. Not seeing any, they proceeded to push open the front door of the temple.
It was clearly abandoned, with dust everywhere, but a basin of fresh water in the antechamber. As Merissa and Jake identified the water as holy water, Anevia complained that her leg was killing her, and sat down on the bench to rest. Gwerm exploded. Anevia was slowing them down, and was an abomination anyway, so they should leave her behind so that "better men" could survive. Anevia retorted that at least she knew her goals and her faith, and wasn't ashamed of who or what she was or what she believed in. Gwerm opened his mouth to continue when Kariss interrupted them both.
"Mr. Gwerm. As I am sure you have seen, Anevia is better with that bow than any of us, and if it were not for her, Jake might have taken significant damage from any number of creatures we have encountered. And Anevia, each man shows faith in his own way. I am sure Mr. Gwerm is a faithful man."
One monstrous Diplomacy roll later and the situation was diffused enough for the party to proceed, though Anevia remained on the bench, sulking, and Gwerm (at Kariss' suggestion) waited outside.
In the nave, they saw the altar to Torag. In the pews sat a robed figure, clearly a deceased dwarf, covered in dust. Jake first called out to it, and then approached it. The huecava (identified by Merissa) surged to life, only to be cut down by Jake's scimitar and Merissa's channeled energy.
Without a word, Jake started cleaning the altar, and Kariss began dragging the body outside. Understanding that a huecava was created when a cleric defied or profaned his god, they all agreed to take the time to clean and restore the temple. As Merissa had the most ranks in Knowledge: Religion, they spent their time restoring the temple as a temple of Iomedae. After the temple was cleansed and devoted, all of them felt the touch of a Blessing, and felt safe and secure resting for the night in the temple. Most of the party dined on snake, Jake was carrying plenty of rations for everyone who wouldn't eat that, and NoPrey was already stuffed with the delicacies of the caverns.
Kariss carefully allotted bedrolls to Aravashial and Anevia (for the sake of their injuries), giving her own to Gwerm (for the sake of his ego). She had begun to get the idea that Gwerm was both rich and a man of his word, so she felt that getting him safely home might have great benefits to all of them. When she was left without a bedroll, Jake, being a guardsman and sworn to protect, kindly offered her his own. Kariss began to argue, but decided better of it and accepted graciously. Only Jake and Merissa were left without bedrolls, and both insisted they would do fine without.
Merissa suggested that in the morning she would prepare Create Water, so they could fill two flasks with the holy water from the temple and take it with them.
NoPrey and Merissa took the holy water, and the party settled in for the "night". As they retired, Kariss made a decision... she opened her satchel and allowed Rishi to come out and stretch. "This is Rishi... he is my familiar and best friend. I thought that since we were to travel together for who knows how long, you all ought to know that he is with us." She looked around a bit defensively, but no one seemed in the least bothered by him. Feeling a bit relieved, she fed Rishi some scraps of snake, snuggled him close and curled up in the borrowed bedroll, quickly falling asleep.
*** End of Part I ***
Next Planned Session: 04-May-2014, Part II (Already played).
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
LOL. The player complained a bit that I'd made him -too- enthusiastic, but that's absolutely how he played him this session.
As I write up the next two sessions, I'm happy to report that he continues to figure prominently in the comedy relief area.
Isn't that what tengus are for, after all? :-P
Anyway, this week is the -final- week of homework for the kids, so writing should pick up significantly in all my threads as I convert my down time from "help kids with the homework" to "write write write".
The party themselves should finish Book 1 this weekend. So far, the fights have been just about perfect -- not too hard, not too easy, with multiple situations where the fighter went to negative HP.
We'll see how they handle the Grey Garrison. Unfortunately, being *my* group, they're getting every single NPC boon available, so they're going to be quite the horde descending on the garrison...
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
We'll see how they handle the Grey Garrison. Unfortunately, being *my* group, they're getting every single NPC boon available, so they're going to be quite the horde descending on the garrison...
This is my surprised face upon learning that your party has decided to make friends with every NPC that isn't actively trying to kill them (and a few that are).
:-|
Oh, c'mon, my players aren't -that- predictable, are they?
Oh, wait. Yes, yes they are! :P
The thing that really kills me is that the AP sets those "high" DCs to adjust the NPCs' attitudes (16, 16, and 19 respectively), and Kariss' player (nee Raesh) couldn't roll under an 18 on the die, in spite of not having spent any points on Diplomacy.
CHA 18 sorceress (+4) + 18 on the die = Never lower than a 22 on Diplomacy.
Yeah, it's my party.
Just wait 'til you get to this last session's writeup. Not one but TWO "boss monsters" rolled a 1 on their initiatives, turning two fights into laughers.
Some things never change, no matter what the AP...
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
04-May-2014 Game, Part II
As I write this we're planning a 2-day session (Friday and Saturday) to try to finish off Book 1. So far it's been a lot of fun! Far more combat-heavy than I prefer, but my players have said they've been enjoying it so far.
As for the writeups, I'm enjoying the day-by-day (Golarion time) writeups rather than the session-by-session writeups at the moment, but once they reach the surface I'll switch back to my old format.
On the other hand, looking at the length of this one, wow! They get a lot done every day! Sheesh! Wish I were that productive!
=====
17-Arodus-4713
Jake stirred, stiff and sore and feeling slightly queasy. He kept the feeling to himself, got equipped, had a quick bite of dried meat, hard tack, cheese, and water (breakfast of champions!), and checked on the others.
GM Note: I have to admit, I was rather astonished at Jake's ability to fail Fortitude saves. After having no trouble against the snake's venom he proceeded to fail his save against the fly's Filth Fever, fail his first save against the disease the next morning, and failed his save for not having a bedroll and ended up Fatigued for the day on top of everything else. Fortunately, it was a rather light day for him...
Merissa was already up and just completing her devotions and seemed none the worse for not having had a bedroll. Jake suspected she'd slept in far worse quarters in the temple of Iomedae. Aravashnial was also up, idly rubbing his fingers over the now-healed scars of his ruined face. Gwerm was stirring and muttering in his sleep about the intolerable service and unforgivable lodgings. Anevia was curled up in her bedroll a distance away from the others, clutching her bow. NoPrey lay, beak tucked under wing, making a small churring noise. At first Jake thought Kariss was similarly churring when he realized that it was Rishi, snoring in his comfortable bag. Not for the last time, Jake wished that someone would carry him about in a fleece-lined bag...
Merissa transferred the light she'd been using for her devotions to her shield and they headed out of the temple, out of the temple area, and continued down the long passage they had not yet explored. It seemed to go on forever, though Jake assured them it was well under a mile. Unfortunately, with Anevia's leg and Aravashnial's face (or lack thereof) it took well over half an hour before the passage widened into a large cavern. Jake, wanting to see better than the feeble light Merissa's shield was shedding, transformed himself into a dwarf.
GM Note: Yes. A dwarf. Of ALL the creatures with darkvision he could have chosen, he pulled a dwarf out of thin air. Well, OK, maybe after the temple of Torag it only made sense, but yeah, I winced while re-evaluating my poor darkmantle's tactics.
Jake gazed around the room.
GM Note (and my fourth-to-last one, honest!): After Jake's player GM'ed my fighter through Carrion Crown and my fighter's Perception roll (or lack thereof) became the stuff of legend, the very first thing the player did was to play a half-elf (+2 Per) and take the Skill Focus: Perception feat just so he wouldn't "be like Raj" and miss everything in the universe. So the fact that Jake spots everything for the next few write-ups is fine rolling and a Per-focused build.
He easily noticed the creatures clinging to the ceiling near the center of the room. While he couldn't identify them, he wasn't entirely comfortable with them, either. The party went single-file, with Jake in front and Merissa in back, figuring the creatures did not look particularly intelligent and would either attack the person in front or the person in back. Sure enough, the creatures dropped, flew as far away from Jake as they could, and attacked Merissa in the back. Their teeth could not penetrate her armor and most of the party did only minor damage, but Jake managed to run over and hit one rather solidly.
Apparently terrified of the dwarf, the creatures flew to the other end of the line and attacked Anevia. Again Jake had to run in pursuit. This back-and-forth didn't last very long and the creatures were soon slain.
GM Note: What about their once-a-day Darkness spells, you ask? Well, I missed that. The problem with using the Bestiary instead of writing up my own cards. But with a fighter with darkvision and a bow, they weren't destined to be particularly dangerous foes in any case.
With the darkmantles defeated the party examined the chamber around them. While the original cave was most likely natural it had been significantly expanded with carvings of men and women in armor with weapons around the perimeter. Gwerm immediately identified the statues as being of soldiers from the First Crusade. As Kariss described the carvings in detail, Aravashnial became excited, and animatedly told the group the legend of the crusaders who'd become infected with Abyssal energies and fled underground to live in peace. Rumor had it that the descendants lived under Kenabres to this day, and Aravashniel told the party to keep a keen eye out for malformed humanoids lurking in the darkness.
The only exit from the room was an extremely narrow passage leading into another chamber, so the party proceeded single-file. As Jake entered the next chamber there was a horrific inhuman shriek and the sound of spellcasting. Across the room Jake saw a sickly green dwarf. Negotiations were brief and non-profitable as the dwarf frothed, "You may think you have found me, but you'll never take me alive!!" and fired a crossbow fruitlessly at Jake.
Jake charged forward, figuring that he would be far more effective if was able to get next to the caster, while Merissa followed at a slightly less breakneck pace. Aravashnial recognized the casting and asked whether his assistance would be needed, and Kariss responded, "We are facing another caster, but we do not know how dangerous he is yet. I will let you know," and she let fly with a Magic Missile that struck true.
The enraged dwarf stepped back and cast Color Spray on Jake, only missing Merissa because of her decision to stay back a bit. Jake dropped unconscious to the ground. Kariss gasped. "Oh, my, Mr. Aravashnial! Jake is down! I think we need help now!"
Aravashnial started weaving a spell. NoPrey and Anevia fired at the dwarf with bows (Anevia a bit more effectively than NoPrey, I'm afraid, though one of her bolts did seem to pass through him, indicating he had some kind of protective magics up), and Gwerm hid in the back. As they battled, the dwarf declared, "If you give me the half-elf girl, I'll consider not killing you!"
Kariss decided that his offer was less than appealing and, frowning, declared her opinion that he was a foul waste of space and ought to be eliminated for good.
Merissa stepped up and struck a sound blow with her sword. The dwarf rewarded her with a solid Magic Missile to the chest, but at that moment a Celestial Eagle appeared before Aravashnial and he spoke to it. It flew into the cavern, flanking the dwarf with Merissa. With no way to avoid a combatant, the dwarf trusted the eagle to miss more than Merissa, stepped back, and tried to cast. The eagle successfully disrupted his casting, and Merissa, Kariss, and Anevia promptly dropped him.
"Who is he, why is he here, and why did he attack us?" Kariss asked.
The party searched for answers, finding nothing but the scattered thoughts of a madman written in a journal in a horrific mixture of Abyssal, Common, Dwarven, and Hallit. It did them very little good, so they gathered the dwarf's gear, woke Jake, healed themselves, and, with great hesitation, woke the dwarf.
The interview was hardly more enlightening than the journal. "Millorn" was convinced that they were all crusaders come to kill him for his "research". His "research" was apparently some mixture of alchemy and necromancy, trying to create strange creatures that would aid him in his "cause", whatever that was. He was delighted to learn that Kenabres had fallen, and that most of the crusaders were dead. He would tell them nothing of the caves beyond, insisting that he kept to himself, and everyone else left him alone, in spite of evidence to the contrary. (The dried rats and fungi suggested someone capable of hunting, skinning, and preparing dried foods, all of which seemed beyond his mental capacity at the moment.) It took only a few minutes to run out of things to ask him. A few more crude suggestions regarding bedding the sorceress had Kariss seething and forcing restraint as the others questioned him.
GM Note: And here's my first complaint about the AP. In both Crimson Throne and Rise of the Runelords, *every* named enemy, no matter how minor, had a bit of history, motivation, and reason for doing what they were doing. My entire description for Millorn was that he was "forced to flee underground to avoid persecution for his research into vile magical traditions." By whom? When? Such as? Waaaaay too open-ended. Since I was running relatively unprepared this week I had to make stuff up on the fly. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't terribly compelling, either.
Stepping forward, Merissa pronounced sentence. "This dwarf has confessed by his own word that he is an enemy of the crusaders. He attacked us on sight, and his madness makes him a danger to all. I condemn him for this hatred of others and willingness to kill on sight. Would others defend him?"
Kariss spoke vehemently, "He is a disgusting, foul abomination. The world will be a better place once he is removed!"
None of the others defended him, so Merissa cleanly beheaded him.
His gear was surprisingly useful; the aforementioned rations, a bedroll, some potions and scrolls, a crossbow, and a spellbook.
Moving on, the party found a steeply-inclined slope that would most likely give both Aravashnial and Anevia problems. Jake stripped out of his armor, climbed the slope, and lowered a rope. Kariss helped Aravashnial while Merissa helped Anevia. NoPrey and Gwerm were left to climb on their own.
Once again, the tunnel was immensely long, going on for what seemed like miles. Again, Jake reassured them that they were really only traveling hundreds or thousands of feet. Merissa rekindled her Light spell multiple times to keep the party moving.
Finally, they heard noises ahead. Jake scouted ahead and saw two deformed humanoids standing over a third, who seemed to be working in a pit of some sort. For a few moments, the party consulted amongst themselves as to what to do. Being my party, they decided to approach the creatures openly, with weapons sheathed.
The creatures were mongrelmen, hideous combinations of humans with many other animals. The explosion of the Kite had caused major earthquakes underground, and a recent such earthquake had toppled their underground guard tower, trapping one of their members under an enormous stone.
The party immediately moved forward to help. Unfortunately, with Jake's fatigue (in spite of his nap) and no one else particularly strong, they were of little use trying to move the stone. Jake looked for a way to dig the creature ("Crel") from under the boulder, but did not see a way to do it safely. Crel's friends Lann and Dyra were becoming more and more desperate. To make matters worse, Gwerm started muttering about "disgusting creatures" and Aravashnial peppered them with pointless questions while their friend lay trapped. Fortunately, Kariss once again came to the rescue and suggested to both Gwerm and Aravasnhial that silence might be the best course of action at this point. (Two more great Diplomacy rolls.) In spite of Kariss' efforts, as time wore on tempers flared. Finally, after a seemingly-interminable amount of effort, Aravashnial suggested, "I have an idea."
Aravashnial had the group tie two ropes to the boulder, then cast Levitate on it. While the spell wasn't powerful enough to move the rock by itself, the combination of the spell, Jake's strength, and the others pulling on the rope was enough, and Crel was safely pulled out. As soon as Crel was free, Merissa channeled energy to heal everyone. The mongrelmen were extremely grateful, and invited the party to come with them to their city of Neathholm to receive a reward from their chieftan.
With nowhere else to go and the chance of a friendly settlement in which to restock their supplies, the party readily agreed.
The trip to Neathholm had only two notable events: The first was a chasm that interrupted the road.
GM Note: OK, seriously? A 30-foot-deep chasm requiring a DC 15 Climb check for one person? And award XP if no one dies? I suppose if not a single party member brought a rope this might be a lethal obstacle. They lowered Jake and Merissa down, she used Touch of Good on him, and he clambered right up the other side with no issues at all. Maybe other groups found this an intimidating obstacle. Seemed kind of silly to me.
The second was far more ominous. The mongrelmen warned that they were taking an old passage that contained a carnivorous plant. The mongrelmen were fairly sure that a party of their size and caliber could defeat the creature *if* it was home, and assured the party that it was usually out hunting anyway. The party approached the room with great caution, until one of the mongrelmen stood upright and announced, "It's dead!"
Sure enough, in the middle of the room was a heap of ropy green fungus, the remains of a basidirond. Two bodies lay near the dead plant, both dressed as crusaders of Iomedae. But why were they wielding glaives instead of longswords? Closer inspection revealed them to be worshippers of Baphomet, Lord of the Minotaurs. What were they doing here? The mongrelmen reported that they had seen such people in the tunnels before, and recently their activities had increased. They associated with a "bad" tribe of mongrelmen.
Anevia was disgusted, but Aravashnial was positively delighted. He had heard that the followers of Baphomet had infiltrated several mercenary groups, but this was the first proof they'd gone so far as to infiltrate the Iomedaean crusaders themselves! Aravashnial wanted to bring both bodies up as proof, but considering their weight, the party convinced him to be satisfied with their heads. Jake got to carry the grisly prizes.
Finally, the party reached a small cavern guarded by four more mongrelmen. They greeted Crel, Lann, and Dyra warmly, and on hearing of the party's rescue of Crel, welcomed them as well. They opened a huge stone door. Beyond the door was a tremendous cavern, perhaps two hundred feet across. The walls and ceiling were coated with bioluminescent fungus, lighting a lake that filled most of the cavern. In the middle of the lake was a rocky island, and over a dozen stone structures stood on the island. If nothing else, Neathholm was certainly defensible!
As they watched and waited, an enormous boat, probably the biggest on the lake, left the docks on the island and a pair of mongrelmen poled it to them. Even using their largest boat, it took two trips to get the entire party to the island. From there, the party was led to the largest building standing on the "peak" of the small island. Stepping inside, they were greeted by yet another pair of guards. On a large chair that might be considered a "throne" sat a heavyset mongrelman with one clouded eye. "All hail Chief Sull," the guards announced, and all the mongrelmen saluted.
Lann was called before Chief Sull first, and explained how the party had come along and helped rescue Crel. Chief Sull thanked the party, but asked what they were doing in his "realm".
It was NoPrey's time to shine! He told the tale of the morning of Armasse, and the attack on Kenabres, the fall of Terendelev, and their plummet into the blackness. He spoke of attacks from tasty maggots and cockroaches and snakes, and not-so-tasty undead and living dwarves. Chief Sull listened intently, occasionally interrupting with questions about Kenabres. Gwerm muttered under his breath, complaining that they shouldn't be having dealings with such disgusting abominations, but Kariss managed to convince him that it was worth putting up with some amount of aesthetic discontent in exchange for a bastion of allies with information and resources in an otherwise hostile environment.
When NoPrey was done relating his tale, Chief Sull sighed. "You from the overworld do not understand us, and our appearance frightens you. But we are children of the First Crusade, and we are loyal to the cause and to Kenabres. I would have you carry a message for me to the leader of your people aboveground: When it comes time for the city to rise again against the demons, the mongrelmen will stand with Kenabres. He need only send me word that we are needed. Will you carry this message for me?"
The party readily agreed. Chief Sull asked many more questions about the surface world and the state of Kenabres when the party had fallen, and eventually realized that the group was exhausted and saw to it that they were given a pair of rooms in one of the free buildings. The party, spent, thankfully rested for the evening.
Party Leveled up to Level 2
*** End of Session ***
Next Planned Session: 10-May-2014 (Already played)
Fantastic update! I love your group!
Though I will admit some slight surprise they beheaded the dwarf. (Oh, the innovative use of Levitate with the rope was also cool! I take it you came up with the idea to move the game on?)
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Fantastic update! I love your group!
Though I will admit some slight surprise they beheaded the dwarf. (Oh, the innovative use of Levitate with the rope was also cool! I take it you came up with the idea to move the game on?)
I think the single-most important thing to remember about my group is that both Shiro/Jake's player and Raesh/Kariss's player are all about being in character. Shiro loved to give things away. Jake is a follower of Abadar and wants payment for everything. (Even Radiance, as I'll get to in a week or two.) Kariss is definitely NOT lawful good. So the group is using Merissa as their moral compass, and I'm very much playing her as an ardent follower of Iomedae in a city under siege by demons: If you are sympathetic to the enemy and have shown a willingness to attack us, then you need to die to protect the city. Not awesome, but she's not a paladin, either.
So Millorn pretty much doomed himself when he started suggesting that he'd let them live if they'd let him bed Kariss. No one else was thinking twice about keeping him alive.
It's going to sound very odd, but I never think in GM terms when I'm playing an NPC. I "get into the NPC's head" and try to behave like the NPC would. I was very proud when both Shiro and Raesh's players said that one of their favorite aspects of the Rise of the Runelords campaign was my roleplaying of the NPCs.
So I wasn't so much trying to move the game along; I was getting into each NPC's head in turn and asking, "If I were xxx, how could I help?"
The Levitate spell came rather naturally, inspired by our Second Darkness game a few weeks ago where one of our party members was rendered unconscious by drow poison and had to be carted around by a Floating Disk spell. If you can cart people around with a Floating Disk, why can't you Levitate a heavy boulder?
Anyway, thanks for the feedback! I'm hoping to keep enough "GM Discussion" in this thread to keep it in the WotR section, and not banished to "Campaign Journals" to die...
EDIT: And if I ever DO decide to do PFS GM'ing, I think that's how I'd "break in" -- I'd do all the NPCs and social interactions, and a more competent GM would run all the fights. I swear, the number of times my bad guys with reach weapons end up in corners or my casters end up trapped in Silence fields, you'd think my players planned it out or something...
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I don't quite have enough time to edit the previous post, so I'll do one more follow-on: That's a warning/caveat I should tell anyone unfamiliar with my journals. I am not a "stereotypical" Pathfinder GM. I consider combats a "necessary inconvenience" between the much richer, much more satisfying (to me) roleplaying aspects of the game.
A good example was the group's trip to Defender's Heart. We rolled up an encounter with 8 dire rats. I had no desire to run such an insanely-boring encounter, so I just said, "OK, you guys rolled up 8 dire rats. You'd wipe the walls with them. Anyone object to me marking off one of Merissa's channels and calling them done?"
And my players, being my players, said, "No. No problem."
So we're definitely a, "Get to the next juicy roleplaying moment," group. If some of the combat descriptions are less-than-spectacular, that's the usual reason.
But, as I promised Magnuskn and others, I will be tracking the ease of combats in this AP vs. other APs to see whether mythic really breaks everything. While my players are definitely a RP-heavy group, they are also very tactically-minded, and will be choosing feats and mythic powers that best enhance the party, so I'm expecting (more than usual) steamrolling to start occurring by Book 3, at which place I'll definitely take a look at Sc8rpi8n's stat block updates...
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
One of my groups convinced Horgus that there were untapped business opportunities with the mongrelmen, and after that he warmed up to them.
My single-favorite part about Gwerm is that we have a player in our Second Darkness campaign playing a near-identical character. Example? During a climactic battle on a collapsing cliff the OTHER party wizard desperately needed his Wand of Levitate to save some party members' lives. Our "Gwerm" sent it over with a note: "You owe me for 1 charge."
Yes. He billed everyone for the cost of a charge for saving their lives.
Dealing with him on a day-by-day basis pretty much explains why Gwerm was a walk in the park for my group!
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
OVERALL BOOK 1 IMPRESSIONS
Last night we finished Book 1, so as promised I'm posting my experiences here. (And I'm double-posting in the "WotR: A Failed AP" thread as well since I doubt many are as Paizo-addicted as I.)
PLOT: The plot is the best I've seen in a first module. The PCs are thrown into the heart of the battle for the Worldwound from the moment the book starts, and there is no let-up at any point. My fighter's player said the same -- This module drops you in and drags you down the road kicking and screaming. Its major shortcoming is something most groups would probably love: It's easily the most combat-heavy first book we've ever played, and has the least "down time", so we finished it in record time. (Only what, 6 sessions or so?) I'm stuck between 4 of 5 and 5 of 5 stars. But I'm leaning towards 5. It really is a great first module.
POWER CREEP: The amount of loot is downright ridiculous. When your group of 4th-level PCs finds a +1 evil outsider bane longsword and says, "Eh, another one?" and is hard-pressed to decide whether or not to give it to a PC, they've got an "excess loot" problem.
This was especially apparent in the Gray Garrison. This was supposed to be a grinding, brutal dungeon crawl that took the group several sessions to get through. Combining the swarm of NPCs that go with them, enough healing potion drops to fill a swimming pool, and their not-at-all-out-of-iine decision to arm every single PC and NPC with cold iron weapons, arrows, and bolts, the garrison was a cake walk. The only combats that even gave them pause were Othirubo (who might have killed a PC if he'd had time to get his Protection from Arrows up) and Deradnu (who was a single crit confirmation roll away from killing Irabeth).
FINAL BOONS: This was really the point at which the AP jumped the shark (hee hee -- first time I've ever used that term). With the boons and the mythic tier, I think the fighter is now unstoppable. We'll see as we go through Book 2.
Well, the loot thing is going to get worse, believe me.
And the books are really quite easy. I'd recommend using Scorpion_mjd's upgrades, which have worked out quite well for me so far.
POWER CREEP: The amount of loot is downright ridiculous. When your group of 4th-level PCs finds a +1 evil outsider bane longsword and says, "Eh, another one?" and is hard-pressed to decide whether or not to give it to a PC, they've got an "excess loot" problem.
This one I am curious about the sword was significantly better than anything my players had although they gave it to Irabeth anyway, as of the first session of book 2 I have 2 +2 weapons in the game (Radiance and a +1 Returning Throwing Axe (dagger in the book)) and of course Irabeth has the +1 Outsider bane so I suppose thats 3 +2 weapons
This one I am curious about the sword was significantly better than anything my players had although they gave it to Irabeth anyway, as of the first session of book 2 I have 2 +2 weapons in the game (Radiance and a +1 Returning Throwing Axe (dagger in the book)) and of course Irabeth has the +1 Outsider bane so I suppose thats 3 +2 weapons
POWER CREEP: The amount of loot is downright ridiculous. When your group of 4th-level PCs finds a +1 evil outsider bane longsword and says, "Eh, another one?" and is hard-pressed to decide whether or not to give it to a PC, they've got an "excess loot" problem.
Irabeth was using Radiance and chose to keep using her. On top of that they had the +1 morningstar from the mongrelmen (yes, speaking of surprising the GM Kariss pulled that one off), a cold iron scimitar with which the fighter had Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization, a +1 adamantine morningstar, a +1 heavy mace, and a cold iron longsword.
The math is simple: A +1 evil outsider bane longsword gives the fighter +1 to attack and an average of 7+1 = 8 extra points of damage against evil outsiders, except they tend to have DR 5/cold iron or good, so that drops it to a +3, 2 of which don't get multiplied on crits. The scimitar is +1/+2 thanks to feats, does the damage to EVERYONE, has a higher crit range, and the extra damage gets multiplied on crits. So no cold iron = useless to the fighter.
Similarly, Radiance acts as a +1 cold iron longsword, so a better choice for Irabeth.
The sorceress and the bard don't bother attacking, so the -only- person who might gain from it was Merissa. After looking at it vs. her plain cold iron longsword it gave a slight benefit so she took it.
Uhhh... Nobody, you're doing another write up!! Based off the comments here, I wish I could read your RotR journal, but that AP is in a state where I may, or may not, get to play in it. So I'm holding off.
Absolutely loving this by the way. I'll be running WotR myself at some point (I was volunteered to do so), so I'm trying to keep track of all of these little journals and stuff that come up.
Jake worships Abadar, but his NG himself, how do you think that's going to play out? Based off some of the things that Abadar does or enforces, he seems like he'd be at odds with a NG alignment in many ways. Do you think Jake will change alignment or even change his god?
Actually...a +3 enhancement bonus cuts through DR/Cold Iron, so an Evil Outsider Bane Longsword will do the same vs. evil outsiders (since it has a +3 enhancement bonus vs. them).
Just for the record.
The way I read that rule is that it's the raw +3/+4/+5, so +1 Evil Outsider Bane is NOT the same as just plain +3.
A magic weapon is enhanced to strike more truly and deliver more damage. Magic weapons have enhancement bonuses ranging from +1 to +5. They apply these bonuses to both attack and damage rolls when used in combat. All magic weapons are also masterwork weapons, but their masterwork bonuses on attack rolls do not stack with their enhancement bonuses on attack rolls.
Some magic weapons have special abilities. Special abilities count as additional bonuses for determining the market value of the item, but do not modify attack or damage bonuses (except where specifically noted). A single weapon cannot have a modified bonus (enhancement bonus plus special ability bonus equivalents, including those from character abilities and spells) higher than +10. A weapon with a special ability must also have at least a +1 enhancement bonus. Weapons cannot possess the same special ability more than once.
Weapons with an enhancement bonus of +3 or greater can ignore some types of damage reduction, regardless of their actual material or alignment. The following table shows what type of enhancement bonus is needed to overcome some common types of damage reduction.
Notice that they're separate: Magical enhancement bonus is one part, and special ability bonus is separate.
Uhhh... Nobody, you're doing another write up!! Based off the comments here, I wish I could read your RotR journal, but that AP is in a state where I may, or may not, get to play in it. So I'm holding off.
Absolutely loving this by the way. I'll be running WotR myself at some point (I was volunteered to do so), so I'm trying to keep track of all of these little journals and stuff that come up.
Jake worships Abadar, but his NG himself, how do you think that's going to play out? Based off some of the things that Abadar does or enforces, he seems like he'd be at odds with a NG alignment in many ways. Do you think Jake will change alignment or even change his god?
Hey, Tels! Long time no see!
I'm afraid my campaign journals have gotten a WEE bit bigger since our CotCT days, but I'm glad you're enjoying it!
Jake's player describes it really well: Jake was raised by devout Abadarians so he "knows the value of money", and the player started Jake off as playing that really well, refusing to turn over Radiance without "proper payment" for it. And he's slowly growing to realize that personal alliances have value as well.
Since he's a fighter, I doubt they'll come into conflict; I think he'll slowly move away from Abadar's stricter teachings. So far it's been fun to watch Jake's player showing Jake's evolving morals.