A last note before I crash for the evening:

Since I'm looking for ways to combine the two groups anyway, would you like to see what the other group is up to, let them see what you're up to, and get to know a little bit about each other to ease the meld when it comes?  All I'd have to do is flag all the characters for access to both groups.

I trust everyone to keep player/PC knowlege separate, and to post to your own threads, but I'm not going to just flip the switch without player approval.

 Hmm, if it will make it easier for you then i am ok to start blending the posts, i just hope i dont get confused, which shouldnt happen.

I am easily confused, but I can keep Rand from knowing more than he should.  Flip away!

Thank you, gents.  I'll check in a few and see if the other group is as agreeable, and if so I'll make the change sometime this evening.  There are really good players in both groups.  I'm looking forward to getting everyone together... now I just have to figure out HOW, since you're essentially on opposite sides of the penninsula.

In the meantime, I'm working on a combat post and getting ready to move forward.

I think I'm going to take this chance to write Ynvaar out as well, though I'm going to just move him 'off screen' and leave him in the active player list, rather than killing him off.  I'd really love to see him come back soon.

Besides, doing it the way I have in mind will also help me bring this combat back into something closer to balance.

Now, to clear up some things that it looks like fbaker4 was taking care of in PM's that I can't get to and catch up on that way. (I really don't like PM's for just that reason.)

Grom, the hawk is coming for you?  I'm assuming animal companion, correct me if I'm wrong.

Either of you, did you touch or fiddle with something shortly before the wyverns showed up that might explain their presence?  Maybe something on the altar that doesn't appear in the visible threads?

 yes, He didnt say for sure but we had talked about my ranger getting a animal companion, and the hawk was what i had wanted.

Sounds good.  We'll get him worked in soon.  If you want to call him down at a time when you think you need help, feel free.

Hello!  I am dropping by to introduce myself, I am playing in DM Jim's Chult 2 campaign, and I hear we are to be combined soon, so Jim suggested we get to know one another.

Balrok is a Barbarian/Fighter dwarf, treasure hunter/debt collector, along with his twin brother Ovi.  We have been playing for awhile, but things were slow with all of the drama around here, so we are still only level 3.  Currently we are trackign down some miners in the Chult who supposedly have stolen a shipment of emeralds Ovi and I were supposed to collect.  I think we have a total of 4 active players in our group--Balrok, Ovi (rogue), Nikola (ranger), and Candlewick (divine caster).

How about the rest of you?  It looks like you have 2 people, unless I am missing something.  And at least one of you is apparently a Wheel of Time fan....

 Hola, aye, at the present time we have two players left in the game.
Grom dwarven ranger 5th and Rand (iam guessing a bard or mage type) he can cast arcane spells, we are missing a good role playing cleric call Ynvaar, not sure if he will be back or not.

 We had been hired by a mage to race another group to a ancient temple, deep in the jungle. At the present time we are busy playing tag with a couple of Wyverns.

 Rand is a native, Grom is not, he is here to find out if the reports of dwarfs who live above ground are true, living like savages, if so he wanted a chance to straighten up about the "Proper way" of being a dwarf.(living underground)

I can also tell from your striking picture that Grom is a handsome fellow. ;)  Good to meet you.

I'll hold a bit longer for Rand; the wyverns are waiting. ;-)

And besides, I'm having a devil of a time keeping a steady connection to rpol tonight for some reason.

Rand is a battle sorcerer.  A little light on both spells and a steady sword arm, but I am trying to make the best out of the class.  And for those who hadn't guessed it I am the Wheel of Time fan.  Great book series I happened across 2 years ago.  I managed to read the first 10 books and the prequel novel before book 11 came out.  Can't wait for the 12th book to come!

Yes, they are good books.  I have read them all as well.  Unfortunately Robert Jordan might not be able to finish Book 12, he has a terminal illness.  I think his doctors have told him he has 5 years or less to live.  Sad.

Anyway, it feels very odd for me to call your character Rand (al'Thor); it would be sort of like calling you "Harry Potter", or calling Grom "Glimli".  My character will probably come up with a nickname for you instead. :)

 Good books are always good to read, even again.
The ones i have read several times is by Elizabeth Moon, a trilogy called "the Deed of Paksenarrion". Some of my friends like some dont. I did enjoy it.

 Another was a older set by Robinson, Guardians of the Flame.

I haven't read either of those series.  Perhaps I will look into them!

Rand, did you have an action that I've missed somewhere?  I can't find anything for you, and since you're down to two, I really don't want to NPC for you in this combat.  If I've missed it (entirely possible), just point my blindness out without laughing too much, please.

If not, fire (or stab) when ready.

Sorry for the delay.  I needed to look something up in one of my books and didn't have it a friend was borrowing it.  And instead of letting you know what was going on I left you in the dark.

No worries.  Just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something that you'd already sent me.

Oh, I almost forgot, I wanted to pass on some news from the DM's Lounge.

DM Windwalker talked to Vallah/Ynvaar a day or two ago, and while he's still without an ISP after some sort of service problems made him punt his last one, he's still working on it and hopes to be back fairly soon.  He even asked specifically that Ynvaar not be killed off, so I'm hoping my idea of soon and his idea of soon match fairly well. :-)

 That sounds good. we need the big ox back again.

Nice to hear he's thinking about us too.

I'm going to be out of town the rest of the week, and may or may not have access.  If I don't post for a couple of days, you know I didn't.

In the meantime, I'm going to try to toss out a couple of quick posts in and around finishing packing.

Hey Grom, looks like our groups are going to meet soon, from the portals on both threads.  I thought maybe we could try to forge some sort of a connection.

I understand your guy is from the Great Rift.  Ovi and I are originally from the Sword Coast area, but we spent a long time in the Great Rift working for the Temple of Vergadain there.  The Temple of Vergadain often sends out people to collect dwarven debts, to keep trade routes clear, to get revenge on bandits that steal dwarven stuff--basically anything associated with keeping the wheels of dwarven commerce runnnig freely.

Do you think we could connect up somehow there?  Maybe Ovi and Balrok know you somehow?  What did your character do in the Great Rift before he became an adventurer, or before you started ROA at level 3?  Did you perhaps guard the borders of the Great Rift?  If so, maybe we even went on a few missions together to oust some minor bandits or something.

Dwarf communities are pretty close knit, even big ones, so I think it would be perfectly realistic if we had at least met.  At that point it would be a "Holy crap, I know this dwarf!" type of moment, instead of a, "Holy crap, more random adventurers!  They look pretty cool--want to go explore Chult together?" type of moment.  If that makes any sense.

 Hola, Grom spent time near the Great rift, working as a guide/hunter in the wilds, hence if your contracts were to put you in the wilds then he could have been one of your guides in tracking down bandits etc.

 He has come to Chult upon hearing that there were dwarves living like goblins, living above ground, the idea that the whole clan of dwarves would give up their ancestors desire to live underground and live in the Jungle is wrong, so he has come to see if he can maybe talk to them about going back to the proper dwarven way of life.

From the look of their portraits, they must be long-lost identical twins...

Yes, Grom is obviously a handsome fellow!  Is anyone good with Paintshop?  If someone could manage to stick an eyepatch on this portrait, I would submit it and switch to it, then you could tell us apart easier. :)

Grom, that sounds good.  How about we say that Ovi and Balrok were sent to help track down and eliminate some bandits that were stealing from dwarven caravans on the trade roads near the Great Rift.  They were operating out of the wilderness so you were our guide.  It took us about a month to track down and exterminate all of them, because after we first hit their camp they split up and ran.  Balrok was very impressed with your tracking skills, and picked up some wilderness lore from you during the month "campaign" [so you trained me in some of my Survival ranks].  And maybe you thought Ovi and I were pretty keen dwarfs as well.

You would probably know that Ovi and Balrok's true love is treasure-hunting and ruins, and we probably talked a lot about the Chult during the month-long campaign, since there is a rumor that powerful magic hid a lost dwarven temple of Vergadain deep jungles.  We studied up on Chult for that and prepared for coming down here for a long time.  Perhaps Ovi was the one who originally told you tales of those uncouth, surface-living jungle dwarfs?

How does that sound?