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Chapter 5 of Reign of Winter is in the books, and we are currently grinding our way through the early stages of Book 6.
The initial fight in Book 5 was EPIC! New to the location, we players all wondered what the heck was going on. But we soon adapted once the Big Guns arrived ;)
RoW has been a great campaign, though I might have enjoyed Strange Aeons slightly more.
Our most awesome GM P has announced we will be commencing Tyrant’s Grasp in the new year. I will likely be playing an Oradin for the first time, if anyone has any build advice.
The Succor mystery is pretty cool. Wall of Suppression at 18th level is pretty sweet.
The Solar mystery would also work well for the Tyrant's Grasp AP.
Chapter 5 of Reign of Winter is in the books, and we are currently grinding our way through the early stages of Book 6.
The initial fight in Book 5 was EPIC! New to the location, we players all wondered what the heck was going on. But we soon adapted once the Big Guns arrived ;)
RoW has been a great campaign, though I might have enjoyed Strange Aeons slightly more.
Our most awesome GM P has announced we will be commencing Tyrant’s Grasp in the new year. I will likely be playing an Oradin for the first time, if anyone has any build advice.
We’re approaching the end of the middle section of book six of ROW.
they like the information broker, but they wonder why he's always submerged in water :D
Do point out to them that he has extensive burn scars. I don't know much about proper burn care IRL, but the affected area needs to be kept clean, and IIRC, some of these scenarios refer to oils, unguents, etc., that he also uses; some might be administered via bath.
Also, IMHO, meeting people in bathhouses has become an affectation for Torch. His injuries unsettle people, and the juxtaposition of physical vulnerability and Torch's aura of being all-knowing make for some delicious cognitive dissonance.
as well as others that involve Amenopheus, the Jeweled Sages, and the Sage jewels because one of the players is in the Osirion faction and they look like they're appropriate for the GMT storyline.
Torch involves himself in the Scarab Sages' business more and more as that faction's story grows, so these are highly appropriate to include.
Next Sunday is the first part of "Eyes of the Ten", [...] (I'm so glad I don't have to worry about what level the group is!)
This does hurt my head a bit, given the huge level jump involved for anyone playing these by standard PF rules.
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Do point out to them that he has extensive burn scars. I don't know much about proper burn care IRL, but the affected area needs to be kept clean, and IIRC, some of these scenarios refer to oils, unguents, etc., that he also uses; some might be administered via bath.
Also, IMHO, meeting people in bathhouses has become an affectation for Torch. His injuries unsettle people, and the juxtaposition of physical vulnerability and Torch's aura of being all-knowing make for some delicious cognitive dissonance.
Oh, they are definately a little creeped out by him always being in the bath, especially when he invited them to join him in the bathhouse. :)
(They did, because they're at least a little afraid of him.)Torch involves himself in the Scarab Sages' business more and more as that faction's story grows, so these are highly appropriate to include.
That's what I figured, yeah.
This does hurt my head a bit, given the huge level jump involved for anyone playing these by standard PF rules.
With the system I'm using, it kind of comes down to enemies having 3 levels of difficulties so as long as you roll good enough on 3-9 D6s you've hit them, and they need to be hit 3 times. (Defending against them is much the same). So it is very different than pretty much any other system I've seen.
(There are slightly more complex rules for special enemies, but they're not needed... my games are mostly about the story rather than difficulties of the fights)They did Eyes of the Ten, Part 1 on Sunday (level 12) and they'll be doing The City of Strangers, Part 1 next week (levels 1-7) :D
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So my Night Below game is taking a break while one players has stepped away the rest of the group decided they wanted to wait till he comes back. Meanwhile they want to play something a little different
"We all want to be Kobolds" they said
So I have 1 week to get an Episodic Kobold campaign ready to go.
It is a fine excuse to bust out the Savage Company books that I kickstartered ages ago.
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We finished Jade Regent after something scary like six year's real time (with a big break in the middle due to pandemic). Minkai is now rued by the woman who picked Wisdom as her dump stat - so there will probably be another revolution in a couple of years.
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(the other is Abomination Vaults, but obviously that is outside the scope of this thread.
I was going to ask "how come?" and then realized this is supposed to be for PF1 campaigns.
Meanwhile I've been posting about using a non-Pathfinder system, but using PF1 PFS scenarios to create the campaign soooo.... I'm just gonna keep posting my updates every once in awhile anyways :)
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Or was your attention elsewhere?..
I had to make sure none of the ... foreign objects in the water made their way over to me!
I think if you're using PF1 adventures with a different system (or vice versa), that's close enough for government work. Whereas AbV is neither designed for PF1 nor being run with it.
I, at least, would be like to keep hearing about what you're doing....
That was my thought too. And thanks! It's good to see that people enjoy it :D
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I realized the other day that Eyes of the Ten should all be played right after each other instead of delayed like the releases were. I ran the first part, then started City of Strangers, then realized my error.
So I'm going to run the second part of City of Strangers then back to finish Eyes of the Ten.
I've added a full list of the scenarios I'm planning on running, and the order I'm doing it in (which is, essentially, the order they were released) in my profile, behind a spoiler tag due to how many there are.
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I’m a player in reign of winter right now, we are having fun. I invented a new spell that makes cute little snowball creatures to zoom around and scout. I also took a level in gunslinger, for obvious reasons if you know the adventure.
I’m a player in reign of winter right now, we are having fun. I invented a new spell that makes cute little snowball creatures to zoom around and scout. I also took a level in gunslinger, for obvious reasons if you know the adventure.
Which book are you in? I’m midway through six. Halfling winter witch.
I’m not sure what book, but probably nearing the end as we are lvl 14 right now. I’m a halfling too, though not by choice as that is because I reincarnated, twice now, though the first was just background history. My character is mainly winter witch, but with some arcanist, and the gunslinger level. I’m making her out to be a savant of sorts with magic, hence doing unusual magical things and spell creation.
Figure my character will become Selena the one ever rejected by death. :) She has plenty in place to always recover from dying.
I’m not sure what book, but probably nearing the end as we are lvl 14 right now. I’m a halfling too, though not by choice as that is because I reincarnated, twice now, though the first was just background history. My character is mainly winter witch, but with some arcanist, and the gunslinger level. I’m making her out to be a savant of sorts with magic, hence doing unusual magical things and spell creation.
Figure my character will become Selena the one ever rejected by death. :) She has plenty in place to always recover from dying.
Ok. End of book five likely then. I’m a bit ahead of you.
My little group took on the dam at Skull's Crossing in Book 3 of Rise of the Runelords over the weekend, in an effort to save Turtleback Ferry from further damage.
The first ettin went down quick, as did the exhausted ogres at the top of the dam. The GM... okay, me... accidentally got the scale of the dam wrong and lined them all up in a row. One lightning bolt spell and a bunch of failed reflex saves pretty much did the trick.
The trolls inside took a little effort, but the magus using spell combat with acid splash helped keep their regeneration in check.
The graffiti upstairs made the heroes leery of Wet Papa Grazuul, but he also quickly succumbed to some swarm tactics by our heroes.
The real challenge was the skull ripper next door. It didn't take long before the two big damage dealers were grappled and constricted nearly to death, but a lucky roll by the cleric to overcome spell resistance and successfully cast the recently acquired flame strike spell brought combat to an end before anyone perished.
The devil tried to trick the group into letting him free, but was no match for the cleric's Sense Motive skill. Our sorcerer then jumped into the other magic circle, causing the dam to release the building water pressure and finish off the other pit fiend for good.
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Modded Skull & Shackles:
Players finished up the Last Baron Module (modified to take place on an island), killing the Governor pretty swiftly, thanks to clever disguises, turning the cannons on the gates as a big distraction and just absolutely going buck-wild with SWAT tactics.
(Darkness, Smoke, Explosions and AoEs), the poor Vendikon didn't know what hit him.
One of my plundering pirates ran up the tower, found the secret laboratory at which point the Fiendflesh Golem construct awoke and was immediately berserk, chasing down Flynn like that scene from Avengers with Black Widow and Hulk.
The heroes fought the Fiendflesh golem on the stairwell, while the remaining guards piled into the war room with guns ready if the Golem broke through. A hellfire beam left the ship Captain vitally wounded, and killed 5 of the fortress guards out-right. Knight-Captain Blacklock took some heavy hits as well.
Eventually our Pirates managed to defeat the Fiendflesh Golem, and the Crepitus.
We then cut to the epilogue, our Pirates looting as much as they could carry, and leaving with a Taldan Letter of Marque allowing them safe passage through Taldan Waters and free reign to plunder Taldor's enemies.
On this island they recruited to their ship:
Two (2) Random Guards (Sean and Geoff)
Two (2) Hellhounds (Zeke and Coal)
One (1) Dropbear (Barry)
One (1) High Mediator of Asmodeus (Booking safe passage to Bloodcove).
Dragon's Demand
My players cleared the crypt of Tula, with our dwarven fighter having a hard time against Arturic, as the incorporeal miss chance didn't take kindly on them. She almost died to his Con-Drain, but our oracle saved her with a clutch restoration.
After that they encountered lady Tula's spirit, which thanked them for their service and allowed them to take up arms from the crypt but asked them to return them once their task was done, to ensure the weapons are available should bellhaim be in danger once again.
This was some kind of in-game reasoning to strip the group of some higher level loot after their victory over Aeteperax, so I have an easier job balancing encounters if they want to take on another adventure/module with the same characters after wrapping up Dragon's Demand.
Next session they'll head back to belhaim, heal up and restock resources before taking on the monastery.
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We gamed last Sunday, finally got out of that hut and are now on Triaxus defending a fort.
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We gamed last Sunday, finally got out of that hut and are now on Triaxus defending a fort.
Oooh, that was fun.
I remember that. It was interesting.
Also, it is a good example of why I think in a fantasy world, you have dungeons instead of castles. Active forts would be underground, maze like, and broken into defensible areas where only a few enemies can attack at once, should they get past one of the gates.
Also works as reasoning for why there are so many dungeons in a world. If they are the standard defensive structures, then plenty enough will be abandoned and taken over by nature and monsters.
it is just a fantasy trope as IRL without good drainage holes in the ground(aka dungeons or crypts) tend to fill with water.
A problem likely solved if dungeons are common.
But while it may have become a trope, in a world of medieval technology or less with flying monsters and mounts, a real world style of castle is not sufficient as aerial defense would be just as important as ground defense, thus the creation of underground fortresses makes sense as the solution, which, trope or not, leads to underground forts becoming a fantasy world’s equivalent to the real world’s castles.
Consider real world forts made during world war 1 and 2. Many were underground and most that were not, were concrete solid structures. And we had far more effective weapons than a medieval level of technology can provide. A few ballistae would not provide sufficient aerial defense.
Oh, and don’t forget scouting and reconnaissance. A flying mount can more easily see what’s going on in a castle that would otherwise be hidden from the view of groundbound observers. Underground forts solve that too.
New PF1 campaign: I'm currently trying to run one that is pretty much the opposite of everything I normally do.
Instead of an AP, it's a homebrew hexcrawl. Instead of being over-prepared and ready for every possible thing the players will do, I'm giving them freedom to set their own goals. I'm limiting the characters - no flight, no teleportation - so not every problem can be solved with magic. Every monster in this part of the world is a previously undiscovered species, so knowledge skills don't tell the players much. Instead of making every intelligent creature speak common so I can give them dialogue, NPCs speak completely unknown languages that must be individually learned. Instead of prepping all 'random' encounters in advance for maximum drama, variety, and game balance, I'm rolling on wandering monster tables as the party explores. Instead of ignoring all the mundane details to focus on big narrative action, food is important and in short supply, and hours in the day must be used wisely if you want to rest safely.
Rating the experience so far (from a GM perspective; the players seem happy enough, but they were happy with my version of Jade Regent too): My original goal was to have a game that I could run without prepping heavily for every session so I'd feel less overworked. It was probably a mistake to decide that all monsters should be new species that I'd create myself, since creating sixty different creatures for different locations/biomes that the players might choose to visit is a massive amount of work up front. Similarly, I need to create interesting things for them to find no matter where they go, and because I'm using random tables I need to create more than I actually need.
I'm trying to reduce my workload by turning to AI. ChatGPT is pretty good for creating filler content - "Give me a list of 20 things the party might find in the forest I described." However, I have to go through everything it creates and sanity check it. It's also fairly bland and vague, but I can use my own creativity to make it more interesting. It's also able to output Pathfinder stat-blocks - "Generate a new Pathfinder 1e CR2 forest monster with a spell-like ability and an unusual weakness" - that kind of thing. Again, you have to sanity check it all, so it's still a lot of work.
We gamed last Sunday, two combats in and we leveled but we still haven't had a chance to rest.....since we are still in a siege.
We gamed last Sunday, two combats in and we leveled but we still haven't had a chance to rest.....since we are still in a siege.
I’d say where we are but it would give you spoilers.
After taking a month off due to various reasons (which is very unlike us, but it happens)... the group finished off their time in Kaer Maga (played through "The City of Strangers, Part II: The Twofold Demise") and now I'll be running the rest of "Eyes of the Ten".
They love Kaer Maga (familiar with it from when we played through Curse of the Crimson Throne) so they were happy to revisit it.
The player in the Taldan faction is starting to think they made a bad choice because the Taldan faction leader seems to be at least a little insane, so I'm quite excited for running "The Dalsine Affair".
The players also joked about how Torch is clearly in charge of the Shadow Lodge but then decided that no, in fact, he's the entire Decemvirate and he only uses "Decemvirate" to throw people off to the fact that it's just him. (And no, they don't really believe either of these "theories").
On top of that, the Osirion faction player is a little suspicious of his leader as well due to handing off coded messages while finding other sorts of coded messages in Kaer Maga, so it's all working out wonderfully!
Eyes of the Ten, Part IV has the Osirion mission written by a different NPC so, thankfully, I send a text version of the mission to my players the day before we get together along with an image of it. I'll just so happen to "forget" to send the image the day before I run that scenario and I'll change who it's signed by in the text I send him.
I've also had to add in "The Chasm of Screams" because the group wants to find a way to cure Kyalla after what she goes through in Eyes of the Ten, Part II, so I think they'll be happy with that.
Overall, it's still working out well even though a month long break requires a lot of "remember how this all happened recently?" but it's all good.
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Book V of Kingmaker ends with a airship fight against the BBEG, a dragon, linnorm, and giant! Just as these were settled, the machine built to control cross planar incursion overloads, piercing the reddened sky with a beam of pure light.
We wake rested on the ship in a strange land. The plane itself seems to be railroading us, but with flight from an allied silver dragon and the resources of a grand coven, we are moving through the areas with blistering speed, hopefully quick enough to catch up with the BBEG unprepared.
The question remains as to the destiny of the party’s changeling companion and adopted daughter of the party Medium, as it seems the companion’s presence is what brought the ship through the planar rift.
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Nothing going on yet, but after going into GM retirement a year and a half ago, I'm starting to hear the muse whispering in my head again. I've always homebrewed my setting and campaigns before but for the first time I think I'm going to really delve into a published campaign setting; Kobold Publishing's "Midgard" setting. I've had an idea for running a Slavic-themed game for a long time and now the ideas are starting to flow. I'm in no rush to complete and my group doesn't know I'm working on it. But, it's a (re)start!
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Dragon's Demand
After clearing the crypt of lady tula, the group returned to belhaim to resupply and then headed to the monastery.
So far they allied with azmur and cleared the ground floor. The session ended with them searching the alchemical supplies in the kitchen an pentosh arriving.
Next session will begin with a fight after which they'll reach level 6 (which I have them already prepare, so the session won't be bogged down).
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My 5th level Deinonychus shifter died after our initial assault of the Hobgoblin fort at the end of the first book of the Ironfang Invasion.
We took out about 10 of their soldiers and one of their named guys (the Goblin Grappler) but my character was knocked unconscious and the rest of our group retreated.
My shifter woke up as a prisoner but escaped with the aid of a turncoat in the Hobgoblin fort. On the way back, he ran into a kelpie unfortunately, failed his Will save, was charmed, and was dragged down into a swamp. He only had 3 HPs so there was nothing I could do to avoid being eaten by the kelpie.
Oh well.
Just finished making my replacement character who is a 5th level Dwarven Fighter tank with 59 HPs and a 28 AC! Looking to have him enter the Stalwart Defender PrC if he lives that long.
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For the past few months, my wife and I have been playing PF1 over Zoom with some old friends in the state that we moved away from a decade ago. It's our GM's homebrew setting, in an oppressive empire that has just been thrown into chaos by the global failure of magical collars used to control a slave class (comprised of both common races and more "monstrous" humanoids). Apparently, this "Day of Chaos" was caused by the death of the Dominator god, which was caused *somehow* by a widespread resistance movement.
Our characters' adventures so far have largely focused on exploring the countryside in the aftermath of the Day of Chaos, and helping various surviving settlements reconnect. Along the way, we've discovered that the Dominator's death was followed by the appearance of "sparks" of divine power in the world. These sparks can enter people and animals and give them new powers: animals get bigger and more dangerous, people become strong or develop magical powers. When one host is killed, the spark moves to the nearest suitable host--which means that each of the PCs has acquired at least one spark. We are still learning what they do and where they came from. But they appear to be some kind of fallout from the conflict that resulted in the Dominator's death. We're also trying to learn more about how exactly that death happened, which involves a whole tapestry of related mysteries.
Our 5 PCs include two former "Collared," my half-orc fighter and an aasimar cleric/monk of the Dawnflower. The others are my PC's sister, a half-orc rogue (with ties to the Resistance); a catfolk ranger; and a human wizard who was born into the aristocracy (and thus has familial ties to the imperial government that benefited from the existence of Collared). We've also acquired a couple of NPC companions: a half-orc acolyte of the Dawnflower (who looks to the PC cleric as a mentor, and my fighter as a hero and crush), and a talking pony (presumably awakened by a spark).
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Our last game(this past Sunday) didn't happen but we already new that from the game day before.
I’m in four games and starting to run one.
I’m in a Reign of Winter campaign, so NO SPOILERS MIGHTYPION!
My 16 year old Winter Witch is an arcane prodigy, and on paper should be decent with a longsword and guns, not that she actually ever hits anything. She has however invented and used new spells, so she probably one of the youngest spell creators ever. Eat that Bigby! :)
I’ve got a kobold in rise of the runelords with side project of restoring one of the early found ruins to turn it into an inn.
Then I’ve an orc raised by elves set to deal with a lizard god cult.
And a blue kobold raised by elves (wait, how did I get two “raised by elves?” Hmm, I should pick dwarves next character), that has gone back in time to prevent the fall of a great elven nation. Just started basically, but making contacts.
And the game I’m fixing to run is going to be a game where I keep the rules mainly hidden behind the dm screen, in part because I’m testing some hefty modifications, but also to help players focus on the in-game world instead of the mechanics. We’ll see how that goes. I’ll have everything ready to start with two characters next weekend.
Oh, and I’m trying to find a job because the part time one I’ve got is seasonal and unless I’m lucky or blessed, will end in January.
And lastly, I’m programming a simulator where a bunch of AI agents will compose a village and live by the rules of the dnd 3.5 ogl. In part this is to show my ability (or lack there-of) in programming but also to show my alternative AI design (which was the focus of my degree). I’ve got dots running around the screen already.
I’m in four games and starting to run one.
I’m in a Reign of Winter campaign, so NO SPOILERS MIGHTYPION!
My 16 year old Winter Witch is an arcane prodigy, and on paper should be decent with a longsword and guns, not that she actually ever hits anything. She has however invented and used new spells, so she probably one of the youngest spell creators ever. Eat that Bigby! :)
I’ve got a kobold in rise of the runelords with side project of restoring one of the early found ruins to turn it into an inn.
Then I’ve an orc raised by elves set to deal with a lizard god cult.
And a blue kobold raised by elves (wait, how did I get two “raised by elves?” Hmm, I should pick dwarves next character), that has gone back in time to prevent the fall of a great elven nation. Just started basically, but making contacts.
And the game I’m fixing to run is going to be a game where I keep the rules mainly hidden behind the dm screen, in part because I’m testing some hefty modifications, but also to help players focus on the in-game world instead of the mechanics. We’ll see how that goes. I’ll have everything ready to start with two characters next weekend.
Oh, and I’m trying to find a job because the part time one I’ve got is seasonal and unless I’m lucky or blessed, will end in January.
And lastly, I’m programming a simulator where a bunch of AI agents will compose a village and live by the rules of the dnd 3.5 ogl. In part this is to show my ability (or lack there-of) in programming but also to show my alternative AI design (which was the focus of my degree). I’ve got dots running around the screen already.
Reign of winter
Rime, a winter witch halfling(now dwarf), a changeling psychic marauder and a bloodrager(hag riven)yeti, who are half siblings from the same hag. A forlaaren Kinetcist with no charisma who likes to burn things. An unchained rogue with an unhealthy obsession with knives, a hunter with a raptor companion(a literal rebuild of Athyra from serpent’s skull). Originally from the same circus and performers and forming an ersatz family.|
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Fresh from freeing the Town of Pirren's Bluff from a corrupt governor, our pirates took a ship-load of plunder and a letter of Taldan Marque to the nearby town of Little Oppara to make some money and do some shopping, entertaining, socialising and notoriety building.
They heard the rumour of the Ghost Ship Deathknell and Flynn was excited about punching a ghost.
The legend goes that the foul whale hunter Captain of the Deathknell killed a whale sacred to the local islanders and was cursed to hunt other sailors until he collected the skulls and souls of 100 hunters for each of his crew that took part in the slaughter.
The Pirates of the Defiant made way for Tidewater Rock, and were hunted by the Deathknell on the way. Aubrey discovered the magic that she uses had some strange interaction with the cursed ghost ship, particularly its magic bell. On the third night the Deathknell attacked. The draugr foes and breathstealer Captain put up quite a fight, but as usual Aubrey sought a different prize, hunting the cursed object that held the strange undead immortality of the Deathknell. A cursed object that allowed the Deathknell sail the Seas of the Dead, and survive any damage with ectoplasmic patches.
Burning cold to the touch, Aubrey tossed the bell to Breaker Bones who smashed the bell to pieces on the deck of the Defiant. This immediately destroyed the opposition and caused the Deathknell to start sinking. Ordering the crew to plunder what goods they could, the party recovered 4 units of stolen pirate plunder.
Arriving at Tidewater Rock, our pirates were greeted by Man-At-Arms Mcleigh who directed them to Lady Smythee. Apparently there had been a Sahuagin attack the night previous, it killed a guard, and left their new goatherd terribly injured. With some heal checks they were able to determine the terrible weapons used, and the goatherd reported that they were avenging their prince, and wanted his necklace returned.
Flynn shot a look nervously to the Captain and Marina, he had melted down the Deep Platinum to provide the flourishes for a new shield.
Captain Aselia was furious, and took the party to the site of the attack, the found a location likely used by the sahuagin to watch the fort, they likely attacked at a most opportune moment, and only fortune prevented the attack from being worse. Captain Aselia, Marina, Flynn and Marcus (one of the new recruits, a reincarnated druid), headed into the sheltered bay to see if they could find the attackers.
The bay held many wrecks of ships that had attempted to take the Rock unsuccessfully in the past, and hidden amongst them was a pair of anchored shelters, patrolled by a pair of great white sharks. There was no hesitation as the party attacked, the Captain tanking the two sharks, Marina using her bomb infused blasts to destroy the Sahuagin wherever possible. Flynn managed to narrowly avoid being bitten in half by a shark by sacrificing his newly made buckler.
One of the Sahuagin used some manner of magic conch to call for help from a ship called the Thresher, and sent Marcus to ready the ship for an attack. Marcus came aboard and Aubrey as ranking officer immediately put the ship to work getting ready while the group that attacked the Sahuagin placed heads on tridents as a warning to others.
The thresher soon arrived, releasing a pair of longboats full of sailors to attempt to take the fort. Aubrey used her magic to distract one of the boats with a hypnotic pattern, but concentrated their weapons on The Thresher, picking up the underwater crew on the way through. The ship maneuvered in between the Thresher and Tidewater's fortress. The Thresher's captain, a tattooed varisian woman started flying up the tower, and Aubrey used Hold Person to prevent her from causing further harm.
The woman managed to shake off the hold person, but dropped the pirates on the stony beach below.
"I am the vengeance of Chief Krelloort, and the doom of the Defiant! You will pay for your crimes against the Sahuagin, I swear in the name of Dajobas!"
Marina, former sacred vessel of Dajobas gulped, and we'll find out what happens next session.
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"We finally caught up with each other! Losing track of myself for just a spat isn't new, but a few millennia out of touch with yourself will put anyone on edge. At least I can say I aged gracefully! The other companions this time were as expected: the knight, the priest, the scoundrel, and me, but for some reason the trickster type was less cowardly and more a literal chicken. (It's pleasant I can still surprise myself!) The objective was the same, undo my meddling in the fabric of planar essence and the being of malice and ill which I brought forth can be reborn, etc. etc. etc. but you should see the needlework new me has mastered! Such fantastic clothes!
"In this attempt we are using lunar alignments along the paths of the dark tapestry as they wind themselves through the Stolen Lands with my double stitch, not a cross hatch -- not novel as an approach to altering fate I must say -- but her skipping of the ninth stitch this time truly seems to hold promise as the anchoring thread buried deep within this world's moon will continuously rethread itself, ending inevitably at the beginning.
"I can't tell them that this won't result in an instantaneous change, but rather, the gradual unwinding of each century from the last to when I began first this wretched endeavor. Welcome news seeing the crisis of AR 4720 is only half a decade away in their timeline! But like a vintner set to retire at the end of season with only a few winters left in them, they will never taste the fruit of their present labor.
"And now I understand why past me didn't receive the letter I forgot to send. Intermediate me could have done us all a favor by stopping by with a reminder. Paradox be damned! But still, if they are ready to watch kingdom after kingdom stripped of power and grace, setting each stone back upon stone for century on end, these four will have done what an odd twenty four-fold have yet to accomplish, ending the constant suffering of the Stolen Lands -- not for once and last or temporarily as each king and queen has sought to do -- but for all of temporality. Here's hoping that Time and Tide still wait for Gnome Anne!"
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"Ok, ok, journal time to catch up now that time has paused itself for a rest. Dmitri has feathers now -- normal -- has killed two more dragons now -- normal, but get this! He laughed at my last joke! I think my humor is finally starting to rub off on him unlike the ink that slipped in his tea last week. Oh, and King Charles has gotten better and better at stabbing things with his pointy stick, which is even now pointier and keen and can even go snicker-snack! And High Priest Talerrio has gotten over his diametrically opposed planar magic yips! Yay!
"Our plan is also working. The thousands of entombed spirits screaming softly for all eternity are really not so bad once they know that you are there to listen -- and not even to solve their problems for them -- but simply know that their incorporeal essence of suffering is finally just being seen. Well, sensed. Well, seanced into a powerful ceremony that can rip apart the binding of planar fabric to the will of our friend who keeps trying to kill us! We'll see her soon tho.
"I also asked myself something rather sad as well when we had a chance to catch up, whether this current quest for perfection was still any fun. I can say that it takes a logarithmic approach to tally my aura points anymore, but that feels less like the point. I've lifted hundreds of thousands out of poverty, fed millions of the poor and needy all over lands far and near, and set in motion on the fields of Casmaron an empire that will span the globe for thousands of years, but I kept making mistakes along the way.
"I'm thinking of going back and doing it again one last time, but the people along the way seem to think things are great. At the last bored meeting, the executives told me that Sellazon's revenue will top 15bn by the end of the 4th quarter, but that's what they said last time the 4th quarter approached but they just keep laughing when I ask them when do we actually win this game?! Dmitri is on the bored now tho, so maybe he can take over. I'm losing aura just thinking about it.
"Willow has also started to grow up, it was like it was yesterday before that cataclysmic event aged her a decade, but I miss being able to lift her up. I guess that's what magic and spellcrafting is for. I hope she doesn't mind that this whole 'saving the world' thing is for her, but for as much as I reflect on the various tomes of Perfection, I can't escape that its the imperfection of her soul being a shard of repurposed planar essence that makes her who she is. Such a sweet child. And also a really great pilot aboard the Tide. Who knew that a wunderkind changeling witch of unspeakable intelligence would possess such grace behind the wheel of a flying skiff.
"Oh well, no time like the present to get things started again -- and no present like a little extra time!"
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I keep added or removing scenarios from my Grandmaster Torch / Shadow Lodge / Jewelled Sages non-PF campaign! (List in my profile behind spoiler tag is my current plan)
Reminder: because the game system I'm using doesn't have levels and instead simply uses "enemy difficulty" I'm able to put in whatever I want.
Eyes of the Ten went great, with the group trapping Adril in an Ioun stone and having him over to the Decemvirate.
Year of the Shadow Lodge and Shadows Fall on Absalom, combined with what they saw of the Decemvirate in Eyes of the Ten has the group questioning how good the Decemvirate are and also if the Shadow Lodge is actually all that bad. They've kind of clued in that there are extremists, but that some of what they're fighting for isn't all that bad... which is promising for the end of the season, and then leading into the Jewelled Sages storyline. (And they miss Grandmaster Torch... they're surprised he hasn't shown up lately.)
When I first read the "Heresy of Man" trilogy I absolutely loved it but realized that the PCs are assumed to have done something between scenarios 1 and 2.
It's way out of order but it was easy to insert anyways, so I put in the main adventure part of "Faithless and Forgotten, Part I: Lost Colony of Taldor". To do this, I ran the entire scenario for "Heresy of Man, Part I: The First Heresy", had the PCs get down to Wadi al-Hesr where they met up with Obo, who replaced Zefiro Balinger as the quest-giver, and the PCs were sent west to ruins near the Chelaixan region of Kharijite. (Cheliax is trying to claim that the ruins are ancient Taldan and therefore they should own that area as well). And then, obviously, instead of the ending in Lost Colony of Taldor the PCs returned to Obo and then The Heresy of Man, Part II will happen.
OH! And the group learning one of the faction leaders was a traitor was AMAZING! Especially since the one that realized it is from the faction of the traitor!!!
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In the "off game" (what we play when someone can't make it to our Sunday night game), we just finished up exploring Dragonslayer Tula's tomb in Dragon's Demand, and we all just leveled up to 5th. Next is exploring the Monastery whenever we play that game again which might actually be in a couple of weeks.