This is the OOC thread.

I have received more interest in this game than I have room for. Some players have asked questions, but have not mentioned if they are applying or not. So I am expecting additional interest. Having said that, I am slowly starting to invite players to the game.

The first player asked about how to calculate hp as there are a number of ways to add them up. And I decided that you get the maximum number of hp at each level. But so does all the monsters and other NPCs.

The Band has been selected. It was a difficult choice. I thank everyone for their interest in this game.

Hello everyone.  I know nothing of Dragonlance... unlike Eucharista who tells me she's quite knowledgeable.

Welcome to the game Eucharista!

Knowing nothing about Dragonlance is fine. You will learn and you can ask as many questions as you like.

As the others complete character creation they will soon join you here.

Everyone can feel free to post here while we continue to work on your character sheets.

Eucharista sips her cider and watches.

How's it going goodfolks?

Still working on the sheet, hope to complete it by the weekend. :)

Excellent.  Very much looking forward, so I am.

Hopefully very nearly done with gear. Very excited to get started!

Hello all, I am also hopefully close to finishing up.

Very excited to game with you all.

*Curtseys to the new heads poking up*  Charmed I'm sure.

Caitlin grew up in Flotsam, who else did? Maybe we ran into each other?

Keliantharas didn't grow up there so much as he got sucked along by... what's the collective verb for kender?  A disaster?  A larceny?  A spree?

With real life and recruiting for another game too right now (I'm not doing that again), things are a little hectic right now. And thus moving a little slower than I would have hoped. But I'm still working on things.

No problem, I still have a few things to put together, like the background. Speaking of which, is there a place we can look up details on Flotsam beyond what is available in the thread of this game?

That is a very good question.

Is there anything in particular you would like to know?

As all of you have lived here for years, there should be more information. But as this game doesn't take place in the official timeline, pointing you to an official source may give information that isn't accurate in this timeline. So let me try to whip something together from the sources I have and try to answer any questions you might have that aren't covered in those.

As a starter, I added a link to the map we're using of Flotsam.

Very cool, thank you. The names attached to the piers, are those ships that are moored there? And, since the town is situated at a river, where are the fisher boats?

Those are ships yes. Obviously, they aren't there all the time.

Flotsam is not located on a river, it's located on an ocean. And the map maker was less interested in fishing boats. There is plenty of room for them in the harbor.

Greetings, Moonflute is ready to join the team. I am looking forward to playing in this campaign with you all.

Is there any particular style/info that DM or other players want our bio lines to denote?

Did you have anything in particular in mind for the bio lines?

Just numbers basically; hp, ac, saves, class/lvl etc. It's a common thing, but certainly not universal.

All of those would certainly be useful.

Any other ideas?

Oh.  Like this then?

That's it :)

Well.  Druid/ranger, rogue/ranger,... ranger/ranger?

I'm a non-spellusing ranger if that helps?

I don't have a preference either way, but I do have enough spells for everyone.  Learning new ones was one if the larger expenses of starting gear.

So... Wizard 4 / Wizard of High 4 Sorcery, Ranger / 4 Rogue 4, Druid 7 / Ranger 1, and Battle Sorceress 6 / Warmage 2 here.

Not that many spells to choose from still enough to give the enemy a headache ;)

Hmm, not too good at causing headaches, I'm more of a run someone through sort of girl rather than hitting someone over the head.

Oh while we're at it, I've tried finding out ordinary people's take on spellcasters, however, since this is a different timeline and such, it would be good to know how wohs and 'renegades' are treated.

It's fine if we have mainly damage dealers in the party. I am a Paladin who is boosted in tankability and socialability with the main double-take aspect of him being his race. But if you are taking a job from the quest giver of this game, you can't be too racist against his people.

If anything, if I portray him right you ought to have even less racial bias against our boss.

Don't you worry.  Keliantharas will have no more or less racial prejudice against you than he does humans, dwarves, or any other barbaric primative.

Please, it's 'primitive' not 'primative', you fancy robe-wearers should know that. :P

Any prejudice I may have had growing up, was burned away amid the horrors of the orphanage.

I've been in town about 6 years having traveled before that.   As a priestess of Branchala I'm sure even before we ever adventured together, you either sought me for healing, or saw me playing a tune at the tavern.

I don't have a prejudice bone in my body so all good there.

Hello Dialis,

very cool, I guess Caitlin and your character will have met. On occasion she does sing and the two might have sung a duet, if you like?

Oh my, Dialis.  We may well have met but you might have mistaken me for a halfling given the way you tower above me. ;)

While I remember, when we start, you will spend at least one night in the wilderness before you return to town. So make sure you have what you need. Food, water, shelter, sleep gear, the ability to see at night, weapons, armor, and whatever else.

Feel free to discus this here before we start so that everyone is as prepared as they want to be.

Okay, if we're out of town, I have a wagon and two big horses if anyone needs a ride.  I need to buy food for the horses and for Petra although in Petra's case, we could hunt for it if necessary.

I don't see well in the dark but I hear well and Petra has an excellent sense of smell.  I plan to buy an everburning torch as well and a small barrel to hide it in.

Caitlin doesn't need to worry about food or water, she has an everburning torch and Athena, her owl  familiar, ... well is an owl. She might need shelter, but that should be it.

Eucharista, you can get a leather cap for the torch and it will block the light, similar to a falconer's cap for birds of prey.

Well, although I have not finalized things, I did make sure to buy food and water and a tent and sleeping role. My goddess gave me a big magical pony, so I didn't really skim out when it came to basic equipment.

Keliantharas has his basic adventuring gear sorted, but sometimes he 'cheats.'. He COULD spend ten minutes pitching a tent, or he could spend those same ten minutes and a spell slot pitching a 20' cabin.

Caitlin, that is a great idea.  Of course we have sung together and duet when doing so.  I can imagine the imposing sight of two tall women singing and playing their hearts out in a tavern.

Perish the thought Eucharista.  Everyone just looks small to me, no mistaking of race.

I do have trail rations for several days, but there is always spellcasting.

I should also say that I'm a gardener by profession so anyone might have come across my work.

I forgot to answer earlier. In Flotsam people generally don't care if you're a wizard or a sorcerer. People are people. And just about all types of humanoids come through Flotsam, so people aren't biased against anyone.

In other places, people may like or dislike you by your race or class or where you are from.

Are there specific places you, as a GM, have defined (ie. existing inns), that we need to know about? Having grown up in Flotsam Caitlin is likely to know nearly every part of the town, including inns, shops and people and there are likely some contacts she is going to tap sooner or later.

Good question. Let me add that to the information, which I need to remember to complete.

Thank you for reminding me.

Added some more updates to the Flotsam post. Some details may change as I continue to add things.

Very nice, thank you :)

Meanwhile, I've created another image for Caitlin and Athena...

edit:Btw.: What does 'afflicted' mean "...Bridget Stubbletoes, an afflicted kender,..."


This message was last edited by the player at 09:36, Thu 29 Sept 2022.

I think I've seen her brother.  She looks so much like Richard Ayoade.

Um... who?

We have the standard kender that we all know and love....

And then Membakar, a now dead red dragon, did some very foul stuff, some kender witnessed the event and were so affected by it that they're no longer the fun loving creatures they once where. Hence, afflicted.

Basically, they are a variant race of kender.

Oh I see, you mean they act like 'normal' people. ;)

@Eucharista: Yes, the poor lighting on the cgi may lead to that conclusion :) I always have problems remembering names of actors/actresses, except for a few.

I've updated the post on Flotsam some more. Let me know if anything you expect is missing.

Yes, afflicted kender are more normal than their cousins.

With the exception of a couple of last-minute touch-ups, we are done with the character creation portion of this game.

I'm working on the first post of the game and the map.

Woohoo! - Go Dragondog! :D

As I'm preparing, I recall that I may have said that Lord Toede's deaths and resurrections were secrets and that is not the case. It is well known that he has died multiple times.

As a note to our two elves. Elves seem to sleep normally in Dragonlance, from what I've read. And meditating rather than sleeping isn't listed among elven racial traits in the PHB/SRD. It is in the flavor text and I am aware of it.

I'm not sure what assumptions the two of you have made regarding this so you may choose to sleep or meditate as you like. Please let me know what you have decided.

I hadn't really thought of it.  I also remember elves sleeping and dreaming in the Dragonlance books I have read, so Keliantharas will be a sleeper.

Glad to get going, however, following the link I am presented with a page that shows a dark background and lots of various icons for characters and tools but no map at all.

What about now?

Checking from an incognito window, I note that can't see the icons I made either, so I've placed those on the map.

I can see it now and I can see the icons, the character icons, too. Moving works as well :D

Good. I just saw you move Caitlin. An icon for your owl is there too.

This makes it a little trickier to use though. As I apparently have to refresh the page for it to be available for the rest of you. So if I haven't used the page in however long, you won't be able to see it.

Let's see if we can find a better solution.

I see, unfortunately it's the first time I accessed that page, so I have no clue what I'm doing ;)

Positioned Caitlin and Athena, I hope that's the right rectangle where they are placed.

The rectangle of the map screen up from where I have placed the icons, is east of the staging area in the game world.

Yes, Caitlin, that's the area I was talking about.

It's the first time I'm using this tool too.

So... you want us to roll for initiative, too?

In play by post, I have found that the game flows smoother if players act in whatever order they post and that their opponents act before or after them.

I'm used to rolling initiative for both sides, but if you want to roll it individually or for the group as a whole, that works for me too.


As I wasn't clear on that from the beginning, if you have Improved Initiative and don't want it, you can trade it for another feat. And if you don't have Improved Initiative and you do want it, you can trade one of your feats for that feat.

Is there a way to get the map bigger?  I can't see us on the right and I suspect they are just little dots

Players apparently cannot see the custom icons in the icon menu on the right of the browser window.

If you have a scroll wheel on your mouse, you only turn it to zoom in and out of the map. I haven't found any other way to zoom.

Your icon is almost in the center of the visible portion of the map.

As you place your icons, please also post something in the IC thread. Something about your character. Something about your assignment. Something about your current situation/location. Or something else connected to what has happened in the IC thread so far or what is going through your character's head. Or whatever else works, that seems suitable.

So, Korzak, what do you mean by socialability? :)

Initiative came up before. Do you want to roll and we'll use an average for the group? Should only one person roll and we'll use the average init modifier for the group? Which would increase the probability of extreme results as compared to the first method. Do you want me to sort that out? That's the method I'm used to.

But any of them works for me.

I guess it will be quicker to start combat if the GM rolls based on an average for us. As long as it reflects the initiative bonuses (which I hope we have) I'm fine.

How do you handle two people attacking one monster and it drops from the first person's attack? Do you redirect the attacks?

Yes, I would redirect the attack. You may want to include what target you'd want me to redirect the attack too, if that matters to you.

As it turns out, it's late here, so I'll need to post the next post tomorrow. It might be early tomorrow.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 19:32, Wed 05 Oct 2022.

Making an early morning post before work obviously didn't work out. I'll post this evening instead. Sorry about that.

Wow, deciding to dock characters stat points for days and ignore all readied actions as your very first action of the adventure. Quite the choice.

Well since I alone suffered a stat drain of 11 points let alone being denied two of my prime stats for 4 days before even getting to take an action.

Well, my character is now absolutely pointless since it no doubt has a level higher than 9 and an AC higher than 22. I literally am pointless until one of you takes healable damage.

I understand that you wanted to do things and I should have been clearer in my first post about what was happening by not referring to the ghost at all. As your first posts were about getting you on the map.

I'm sorry I wasn't clear about that.

The ghost manifested and acted before you had a chance to act.


Your Str/Dex/Con values are currently reduced, as that is one of the abilities ghosts have. But they can still be used.

I note that some of its traits do not conform to the traits a standard ghost of its race would have. Its Horrific Appearance does half damage on a successful save, as you have now become aware, but other aspects are less potent than they would have been.

This place is scary for a reason. I know this is a difficult fight, but two characters know Religion and undead very well. Others may know their original race and how to fight them just as well.

So no one is pointless.

And I still think you will get through this.

Hey, hey-- it's fine.

For the record, stat draining characters is notoriously the worst thing you can do to players, so starting the game off by doing that as opposed to making the players feel good about their characters is kind of not the nicest way to begin things.

And I did get hit way harder than any other PC and it was done off the dice roller. Which feels really weird given I made my character entirely defensive in nature.

But because I was built entirely defensive, I had a pretty shitty strength to start with and after being drained-- well, I cannot succeed in either a melee attack nor can I turn undead because we have just one big ghost and its no doubt a higher level than me and the best I can do is my level +1.

Which doesn't mean I am useless. I can lay on hands heal a lot, my very presence makes everyone else immune to the Fear status and gives a +4 bonus to save to fear effects (which-- I guess failed to matter since no one escaped these fear effects, let alone me?).

But until one my allies is hurt or diseased, I can't really positively contribute.

Well, stat draining is bad, being helpless (by hold person or other means) is even worse in my book, you loose the ability to do anything but watch. But perhaps that is only me.

Well, if it makes you feel any better Caitlin as no (IC) way of knowing anything about undead, if you can tell her, she can fight it. Nearly ten years back my warrior lost 11 pts of strength because of a ray of enfeeblement, so from 18 to 7, and was fighting a blood golem. I'll admit that I felt pretty hopeless then, but in the end she got lucky and with the help of the team was able to 'pop the bubble'. So, never say you're useless.

Apart from that, Athena will die if she loses 2 more points of strength, which is a pretty sad prospect. Caitlin will send her away, but you don't know if there are more ghosts about to haunt us...

About the fear effects: Those are all 30ft range or touch, horrific appearance is not a fear effect but has a 60ft range. However, according to the books it says "... succeed on a Fortitude save or take ... damage..." which I'd interprete as 'save to negate' not 'save to halve', but changing monster stats/abilities is a GMs prerogative (like the beneficial change of combining skills or allowing feat purchase for skillpoints).

Just my two coppers ;)

Again-- I'm just saying-- I, personally, have been rendered so helpless having been drained 11 stat points when no one else got more than 4, that I really, truly cannot contribute offensively from this point on.

There is literally no action I cam take in this scene that would not be an auto-failure until someone loses some hit points-- so rather than take an action, it is best I just wait until I can do something that has an actual chance of success.

So everyone else, please do what you are going to do and when I can actually do something that isn't an auto-fail, which just means I need to wait until some hit points are lost, I will jump back in.

Lesser Restoration is level 1 for paladins and level 2 for druids and clerics, and has no costly components.  We don't have to prepare spells in advance, so it's not oike the debuffs will have to wait yet another rest for a combination of three casters to remove 1d4 damage at a time.

Well, that's all I have to say about that.

Edit; I might be thinking of Pathfinder.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:52, Thu 06 Oct 2022.

Nope, Kel, your recollection is correct.

I wanted to start you in media res, which I don't usually do, but it seemed like a good thing to do for this campaign. At that time, I did not have the details of the first monster at my fingertips. And this turned out to be the first monster.

In regards to save to halve, they explicitly set the DC for this character's Horrific Appearance as save to halve in the campaign. And I too read it as save to negate normally.

The rolls were really bad for Korzak, not only was I certain that he'd save, I rolled a natural 1 on his saving throw, which was the only result on which he'd fail his save. And then the damage rolled was higher for him too.

I've updated my post with information on who saved as you should have that information.

In regards to the dice roller, I never use the Rpol dice roller.

Korzak, I wouldn't assume that your character is useless in this situation. Even if Lesser Restoration wasn't available to you, which it is. You assumed earlier that an AC higher than 22 would mean that you couldn't hit it, but you still have the chance to hit ACs much higher than that. And you don't know what the AC is.

And I would worry more about this being a ghost than what its AC might or might not be.

And as with all monsters, some tactics will work better than others. Some tactics might not work at all. But all of you can still be useful.

Only two PCs lost 4 or less stat points

I like the idea of dropping us right into the action, in another game I recently joined the GM gave us a 'warm-up' encounter with a dragon (juvenile) to allow the players to figure out how to better work together during a battle. Since each of us doesn't know the other one's strengths or weaknesses something less damning could have been helpful, but is completely optional.

Is there a deity with 'Sun' domain in Dragonlance? Just asking since they have this nice domain feat that allows the priest to just destroy undead instead of turning them. :)

Just a reminder since it looks like Caitlin is blocking the way: You can pass through squares occupied by allies at no extra cost. :)

Yes, clerics of Paladine may choose the Sun domain.

I agree with you completely on starting with a warm-up encounter. And in retrospect, that's what I should have done. I was just too excited to get started and this happened to be the first monster. And I've never fought ghosts in D&D before.

A lot of different things that on their own wouldn't have been problematic, this time unfortunately worked together and whipped up a perfect storm.

Feel free to move your own icon to where you want to go when you post. I trust that you won't move further than you are able.

Forgot I had that Arcane Aegis ability, let's hope Dialis can add some Protection from Evil or Shield of Faith for you :)

As others may wonder too, you may make a Knowledge check as a free action.

Dialis, as a Turning Check result of 22 means level +4 and your feat means level +2, that would actually be up to 14 HD.

My apologies I thought turn undead maxed out at Level +4 regardless of bonuses.

Let me check that out and I'll let you know.

From my research, both bonuses apply. So 14 HP is correct.

Sorry about the lack of posting; I was traveling and my internet ability was extremely limited and unreliable.

Home now, with a healthy amount of jetlag and obscene amount of free time until I find/start a new job.

Welcome back and, even though it might mean you won't have much time for the game, I wish you good luck to find a new job soon. Real life always has precedence :)



I did consult the sourcebook and couldn't find an 'activation time' for the above, I figured it's like a bonus from 'Dodge' and can be assigned as a free action. Is there errata online for the book that I can look for?

I SHOULD have plenty of time for this and other games even after I start work.  I just lose the 36+ hours (full time in my field in my area - most people do at least 40 anyway) per week that I have nothing else to fill with for the time being above and beyond looking for a job.  I shouldn't be looking long; I just got my bright and shiny nursing license to go along with my pulse.

Generally, everything is a standard action unless another action type is specifically listed.

Agreed, medical staff is widely in high demand, but a little bit of luck never hurts ;)

According to the SRD, activating a SU is a standard action unless it is specifically stated as something else.

Keliantharas, Lunitari and Nuitari are both in Low Sanction, but they are not aligned or not in conjunction. Which is why the Alignment entry is none. And even if they had been, they would have no effect on his spell use. As Solinari has to be aligned with one or both of the other moons for that to come into effect.

But I updated the post in the Phases of the Moon thread so that it specifies the bonus/penalty based on the moon's position too.

Thanks, I didn't recall that section and since practically all official publications state how the (any) ability is activated (free, swift, move, standard) it wasn't clear to me. :)

I thought moon alignment was based on two or more moons being in the same general phase of waxing\waning.  The moons is by far the most confusing mechanic I have yet to see in a DnD game, and I've seen some things, man....
This message was last edited by the player at 20:54, Mon 10 Oct 2022.

For reference, we can use the chart close to the top of the page at https://dragonlancenexus.com/moon-tracking-chart/.

If your moon is in High Sanction or Low Sanction you get +1 or -1 to CL and DC respectively.
If your moon is in alignment or conjunction with one other moon, you get +1 to CL and DC.
If your moon is in alignment or conjunction with both other moons, you get +2 to CL and DC.

And those types of modifiers stack.

Being in alignment/conjunction can happen in any position. Two moons are in alignment if their positions on the chart overlap. So in other words, if Solinari is at position 6 of the white band in the top right-hand portion of the chart. It will be in alignment with Lunitari if it is in position 7 or 8 on the red band. And with Nuitari if it is in position 4 on the black band.

So they are in alignment for far fewer consecutive days than a quarter of a cycle. Solinari and Lunitari are in alignment at most 4 days in a row. And Nuitari is in alignment with either of them at most 2 days in a row.

Does that make sense?

Not even slightly.  And that's ok so long as one of us does; I'm perfectly happy checking the thread to determine the adjusted kick of Keliantharas's spells.

And that's why that thread is there. Just to make such things clear. And now, because of your comment, that thread is better than it used to be. So thank you for that.

If you update your post and want to make sure I see that you have done so, please send me a PM so that I get my eyes on it in a timely fashion.

Even if you and I just talked about it, it may be some time before you can make the update or before I can read it, so a PM would be the perfect reminder.

What's your next step?

Do you want to go north or west?

Coinflip says West.

West's as good as any direction

I'd like Athena to take to the sky and see if there is an obvious ambush or another kind of threat on either path. Ok?

Please make an IC post for sending her on that mission.

Just want to hear a yay or nay from the others first.

Yay

Yay

Um... did anyone hear from Dialis' player? No post since October 7th, last login on the 20th.

I have not heard from them.

I'm moving on Saturday.

So depending on how quickly I can make all the necessary preparations and the move itself, I might not be here as much as I normally am.

Of course, real life comes first :)

So how are you moving forward?

Normally or stealthily?

I doubt 'stealthily' is an option with people in armor, but carefully is :)

As stealthily as possible givn the circumstances.

Given the choice, I'd like to make use Fireball while the risk of collateral damage is low.  I think I can get all but one of them without hitting any friends.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:22, Wed 02 Nov 2022.

I'd like to identify what we're dealing with before doing anything...


11:08, Today: Caitlin Merrywick rolled 20 using 1d20+13.  Know Arcana

Ok; sounds like a plan.

Today: Keliantharas Warden rolled 33 using 1d20+21.  Know (Arcane).

Unfortunately, Arcana was the skill to roll, so I rolled for you (Caitlin and/or Keliantharas). The response will be posted IC.

To be clear, we are not yet in combat?  I might drop tentacles.

We are in the beginning of Round 1, but no one has attacked yet.

Attending a funeral, will post tomorrow.

I'm going to hold for a bit to see if a fireball ensues. Had an issue bringing the map up, it could be at my end.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:57, Fri 04 Nov 2022.

It had timed out on my end. It should be visible now.

Earlier this week I found out that I might spend most of next year in the US. I have a visa interview in early February. If that goes as planned and I get the result quickly enough, I will be going to the US in 2023. If that is the case, I will have to postpone the campaign until I return.

So we have a choice. Continue until we know if I'm going or not and only postpone it if I am going. Or postpone/end it now. What do you think?

I think perhaps postpone it now but it's not something I'm adamant about either way.

Definitely prefer not to end; I like my character and don't think he'll translate well to another campaign.

I figure postpone later, because if nothing else you might discover that being in the states might not actually hinder most of the day to day. Also, if it's a matter of access to the source books, us as players can probably provide the details in PMs.

If I'm going, I'm going to be in the middle of nowhere with no internet access. Not even cell phone coverage. Unfortunately, it's not going to be practical to run the game from there.

This trip has been delayed for years for COVID-related reasons at the embassy and suddenly and unexpectedly they expedited my interview date so that I might be going next year.

Having said that, I would love to keep things going. I don't know what will happen at the visa interview. I don't know how long it will take them to make a decision or to return my passport. If it takes too long, I would have to leave in 2024 even if the interview is positive. So there are a lot of variables.

I would suggest completing the mission if it doesn't take too long, if there's a hiatus then it is easier to reconnect to characters and story then, rather than stopping right before a fight. Just my two pennies. :)

Speaking of which: I cannot see the result to Caitlin's knowledge arcana check, anything I should know?

I think that sounds like a good idea.

I just didn't want to lead you into something that might end much sooner than any of us expected without letting you have a say in the matter.

Caitlin, in regards to your roll, unfortunately, Arcana wasn't the skill you needed to know what those things are.

Happy to keep going until the future is clearer.

Eucharista, it's a little precarious, but you found a place from where you can use your bow.

In the event that it becomes relevant, Keliantharas knows and is pretty free about casting Feather Fall.

Korzak, have you checked the map? Move your counter and remember each square is 20ft :)

Oh! We are still using the same map as in the original post. That's why I was confused-- I was expecting a different link.

You don't have to roll to confirm crits. Crits always crit.

Well, I goofed last round, which I guess I will make up now.

If Keliantharas casts Haste, he should be able to get Caitlin and Korzak (who are in melee and therefore take precedent), himself (especially if he moves first) and possibly Moonflute and/or Eucharista.  It's kinda hard to tell on the map what the distances are.  Who is within 30' of Caitlin?

Korzak is within 30ft I'd say, nobody else. Short question though: How many spells do you have left? It might be sensible to hold back a few that might be needed when we encounter other monsters or the 'boss monster' at the end. And there is also the way back to Flotsam - since I don't think we should actually stay the night in Micah if we can help it.

The short answer?  Lots.  He's used a total of five spells, and still has twenty five left before he's reduced to pelting out Acid Splash or Ray of Frost.  A casting of Haste shouldn't break the bank, and it does last for over a minute.

I probably should have given Keliantharas a ranged weapon, but that would be a break from tradition and would mean putting his staff down which is not a good idea.

Just making sure since you were pumping out magic so quickly. Also, I'm not sure if the monsters will take that long to put down. Haste is very helpful, though I'm guessing there may be 3-4 rounds left until the threat is gone. But I'm glad you're so loaded on spells :D

Fair point.  Three enemies are grappled and susceptible to sneak attacks, another one is being flanked, and one of the big ones lost to a second level spell.  I suppose I'll just break out the pom-poms unless the monsters pull out a Hail Mary.

Do you have access to the measuring tool in the map?

All of the PCs are within 30ft of Korzak, but the animals are not.

I moved my icon since they wrote the previous message to do my charge attack. Before then the dog was within 30' of me but the owl was not.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:50, Fri 11 Nov 2022.

Thank you for the clarification. I made my measurements from your current position.

Eucharista, I moved your marker on the map just so that there was something for you to climb on.

Eucharista is barely less than 30 feet away from everyone else, so every PC is Hasted. Please take that into account when you make your posts.

I read IC before this so I've edited to take account of Haste.

Anyone else doing anything this round?

Keliantharas is probably just going to hope that his tentacles can grab hold of the bad guys again and punish them for leaving the area of effect.  I've been under the weather and will try to get a proper post up soon.

Hey DM, are these action points the ones I have in my Eberron book, adding +1d6 to any save, attack roll, skill check etc?

I was ill this weekend, but I feel better now. I'll start posting in a bit.

As explained at https://www.d20srd.org/srd/var...ing/actionPoints.htm you can use it to add to rolls, but as you are level 8, you would roll 1d6 twice and add the highest. Or you could spend it to use a special action.

I should have asked this days ago, but uh... was I bitten or scratched and by what?

It's really only relevant because Keliantharas mentioned that one should avoid getting bitten by the tyins and I am not really sure what I took damage from.

I think their bite was venomous but if you weren't asked to roll a save, then you're safe :)

Korzak, the following quote from msg #87 may be of interest.

"The disir facing Korzak and Moonflute slashed both its claws at Korzak who had injured it, but Korzak defended himself. And having figured Korzak out, it then struck with a perfect bite. Fortunately, he was asble [sic] to shake off the effects of the poison."

What are you doing now?

There are two more passages to the right, beyond where the ghost tree was, it has moved out of view back towards where you first met it.

And there's a lot of space forward.

As well as going down the rift, if you would be interested in doing that.

I'm still focusing on getting the mission completed, cause if it's not completed there is no money. Mercenary logic :D

Same here... except Eucharista has been hanging around Petra for quite some time and terriers (with the possible exceptions of Dobermans and Pit Bulls) are somewhat catlike when it comes to curiosity

I guess that's right, just don't investigate anything that may end in you being surrounded by the walking dead. ;)

I'd like to investigate the bodies that were near the tree (as in the GMs message #57), are they still there? If that cannot be seen, Caitlin will move closer until she can see better but not at the risk of the tree noticing them.

Yes, that sounds good... although from experience, the danger seems to coms not so much from the tree noticing us but from US noticing the TREE.

Yes and no. Yes, those who failed their saves (Korzak and Athena, don't remember anyone else) could become affected again, the rest is immune to the ability sucking by laying eyes on it. However, the tree still has other abilities it can use on us but only if it notices us, so let's stay quiet, shall we? :D

@Dragondog: Any news on the green card front? Will you stay or will you go? :)

Asking because we could really use a new priest here but it won't make sense if the game is going on hiatus sooner rather than later.

The interview is in February, so I won't know anything for sure until then, at the earliest.

I was planning on NPCing the cleric for now, but I agree with you. A cleric is needed.

Best case scenario, for my trip, would mean that I'm gone in 3 months or so.

In this thread, you seem to want to investigate the bodies over by where the tree was, and yes they are still there, but in the IC thread, you don't seem as interested. At least by my read. Let me know what you want to do about that.

IRL I feel like I've been hit by a bus.  I will try to get an IC post up soon, if not Keliantharas will try to (quietly)caution against heading into the pit just yet, because somehow being trapped in a hole with a life-draining wraith seems like a bad idea, at least until we can figure out a way to make it hurt.

Um... a priest may learn Hide from Undead, does Dialis have access to that prayer, Mr. Dragondog?

Clerics have access to all spells on the cleric list. So she does. I wasn't even aware of that spell. It seems like a good time to use it.

And as I don't want to take control away from you by NPCing the cleric and as I clearly don't know all the tools in their arsenal, please let me know what you think would be appropriate and suitable things the cleric could do for the group.

And as it can cover 8 creatures, the spell could hide the entire group, including animals.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:19, Fri 02 Dec 2022.

Thank you, Dragondog, indeed Caitlin is more interested in the bodies that lay around the undead tree.

It seems that Caitlin wants to examine the bodies near the right road while Keliantharas wants to go down the hole. Am I reading that correctly?

Others who have other intentions or would like to join them?

We can't be sure if either are the bandits we are looking for, the ones in the ground have Athena worried. I can only assume that the escaped Desir had fled there?

I thought the bodies were down the hole....

I tend to obey rule #1 of Horror Movies - Thou Shalt Not Split Up.

Thank you for clarifying that.

About where on the map is Keliantharas exploring?

He's going to zig-zag around the other party members, straying no further than fifteen feet from any given edge.  The map timed out but I can try to draw a shape of his location when it's back, if we have access to do that.

Yes please do that, the map should be available again.

The red spheres are roughly where Keliantharas will be physically wandering, meaning he will be detecting magic within those areas and in 60' cones around the egdes.

Thank you for clarifying that.

Damn, this doesn't look good for our mission. If someone has a rope you can tie it around Caitlin and she'll decend into the hole far enough so she can retrieve the remains of the eggs with Mage Hand to investigate further. If someone has a grappling hook we can try to get the bodies, too. And find out if the assumption, that they were the thieves, is correct.

What about Fly?

I'd rather save spells, we never know when we might need them. Fly is third level, as is fireball. Mage Hand is level 0 and a rope is not magic ;)

From 30 years of experience: You can never be sure how things go. If we find the remaining eggs and retrieve the bodies, we cannot be sure we get back to Flotsam without another encounter. Some GMs never introduced more than one encounter per day, if you know that it's fine to go all out, sometimes GMs pepper you with encounters and you really need to preserve your spells - especially when they are all you have to defend yourself.

Let me be more precise. The eggshells you see here are not from dragon eggs. Or in other words, these are not the eggs you are looking for.

Have you decided what direction you're moving in next?

If I haven't mentioned it before, as you are going further up the map, you are going downhill. I've updated the map so that you can see the elevation differences. The higher number, the further down you are.

To be honest-- I am quite lost. That should have been apparent with my last post misunderstanding exactly who was still stuck in the pit.

I had been hoping to do some character interaction and relationship building, but since the moment we started it's been combat and combat interspaced with mild exploration.

The only thing that makes any sense for us to do at this point is to move to where Dialis is and then just make our way towards the town-- or whatever that is-- at the end of the path, or, I guess, the bottom of the hill.

Sorry, busy couple of days, will post tomorrow.

I'm sorry that you feel lost. I hope we can remedy that.

Those are enormous pillars of white marble at the bottom of the slope.

Feel free to interact with each other and build relationships. This is your first mission together after all.

I've been pulling 12-hour shifts.  I now have a 4-day weekend, and posting is going to wait a day or two until I feel like a person and can set aside some of the more heartbreaking traumas.

Sorry to hear about the stressful time you're having, will cross my fingers you can relax now.

Tried to access the map but got an error, twice. Will try again later in case it's out internet acting up.

Much appreciated.

Sorry about the map, it should be available now.

Yes, I can see it now, hooray!

Moonflute, feel free to track.

Sorry for the delay.

I've been doing twice as many 12 hour as 8 hour shifts. I will be able to catch up this week.

Moonflute, I guess you should move your token on the map accordingly. :)

In the first post of the main thread, I let you know that bandits had taken the dragon eggs to Micah and told you a few things about this place. But I never specified who the bandits were or what they looked like.

I'm just pointing that out so that we're on the same page.

What's your next move?

Waiting for somebody else to post but me.

Happy new Year! :D

Happy New Year!

The good news - the only good news - from this week is 1) no one died under my watch 2) I'm not fired 3) I'm not fired and no one died under my watch.  I will TRY to post by this weekend.

THAT is good news, and looking forward to your post :D

I'm just waiting to post to give Keliantharas the opportunity to post, as he has explicitly talked about posting. As well as everyone else.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:24, Thu 05 Jan 2023.

Much appreciated; earlier Keliantharas couldn't try to identify the cloth because the party was too far away.

Just by the by, it's worth pointing out that we may have lost two of our people. That looks like we are without a rogue/ranger and without a cleric.

I have noticed.

And depending on how it goes at the embassy, we'll see how we'll deal with that.

Caitlin, where are you centering your fireball?

In the middle of the four disir, it has a 40ft diameter so it won't reach the 'Queen'.

So something like what I've added to the map?
This message was last updated by the GM at 19:46, Sat 07 Jan 2023.

Yes, that's the coverage I was thinking of, though I guess the eggs won't be affected, given that they are covered in some sort of gel, right?

I'm sure you'll find out if the eggs are affected. These are not the eggs you are looking for though, so you don't have to worry about that.

You might want to move though or move the center of the fireball, as you would otherwise be in the area of effect.

Ok, moved her a little, sorry I didn't notice that immediately and thanks for pointing it out.

Is anyone else acting this round?

I would like to, yes.  I have 5 hours of sleep and a 12 hour ICU shift first.

In reply to Dragondog (msg # 222):

Posting now. If you could copy the link to the map in your post it would be of great help, it takes a good while for me to go find it again :)

Thank you for reminding me.

Well, now that all the bad roles have been eaten up, someone want to take out the queen?

Anyone else doing anything this turn?

I was waiting really to see the result of Kel's turn. I can't go near a stinking cloud or tentacles.

It's a new turn, so everyone has the chance to act.

Sorry for the delay; haven't been able to be my computer.  I will try to post tomorrow after work.

Alright, lets hope that keeps them in place, I'm hoping the nauseated condition + being held by the tentacles will thwart any hopes of getting free.

Yeah.  Keliantharas should learn Web....

My character once got stuck in an evil combo of Stinking Cloud and Web. Having failed her reflex save she was stuck and then the caster followed up with a Stinking Cloud, which she suffered through because of a failed Fort save. And now she was done, you need a full round to break free but you can only take a move action, so the DM ruled my character was stuck. She couldn't even use her breath weapon to burn the web away, nor cast any kind of spell.

By the way: Are you rolling for squeezing damage each round, Kel?

Even if he hasn't rolled for damage, I have. But because you asked, I rechecked and as it turns out I missed to roll damage one round. So the Queen is actually dead.

Edit: I updated my IC post.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:12, Tue 31 Jan 2023.

On the map, Moonflute is not where Caitlin is.

Sorry, wrong party companion. I have edited :)

On a different note, my visa was approved. I still need to wait for my passport to be returned with the visa in it. And I'm expecting that I'm leaving in a little over a month. So that's how much time we have to come to a satisfying resolution for this adventure.

Caitlin, you posted two different actions for this round. Enlarging yourself to attack in the next round and attacking in this round.

Which would you prefer to keep?

As we could get the disir down this round, I made a choice on the matter.

Sorry, I thought we had started a new round. My apologies for the confusion caused.

No worries. The group is out of combat now though. So feel free to act again.

That's pretty bittersweet.

Congratulations and good luck.  I'm hoping we'll be able to pick up the game again down the road.

Me too. And there is still time to find the eggs and complete the first assignment.

Huh? How did I miss the message about your visa? - Anyway, congrats! Great to see things are coming together for you :D

Thanks for continuing with the game despite you probably having lots to prepare :)

As I was cutting through the fog of war, I figured you should have known what direction you came from so I'm showing the compass rose now and it is pointing south, which is map right.

I'm still working on my post, so your reaction will happen after the events in that post. By which time, you might want to change what you do.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:08, Mon 13 Feb 2023.

I changed the order of events, so that Caitlin's post appears after mine in the IC thread. If you want to change what you do, feel free to edit that post.

On a different matter, I have made my previous post in the Treasure thread visible to everyone, so that you can see what Keliantharas found. As my understanding of what he posted was that he wanted you to know that.

Anyone else planning on doing anything this round?

Yes; just a second.

Ok guys, can we try and get this done decisively? Caitlin is the only fighter-type left and I'm trying here. We've lost Eucharista, Dialis and Korzak so if we want to complete this, we need to work together. Moonflute, I understand you're a druid and ranger, can you perhaps shoot some arrows or entangle the creatures?

I'm going to visit my family for about a week so that I get to see them before I leave for the US. I expect that I will have internet access, but it may only be on my tablet so my posts may be shorter as a consequence until I get back home.

I forgot to bring my harddrive on which I have the adventure with me on my trip and I cannot access the map from here. And I don't remember what NPC was where. So unfortunately I can't run the combat from here.

And as we have less than two weeks of game time left before I leave, I'm declaring this combat won. Not the most satisfying resolution for the combat, I know.

So, having said that, we are no longer in combat. Please continue as if combat just have been won.

I am back home now.

Glad you made it back safely :)

What order do you want to try to identify them in, Keliantharas?

Potions (which should require 1 minute each and a skill check Keliantharas probably can't fail) and then sword, box, and then from strong auras to weak.

I suggest we hide the surplus eggs before meeting Toede, then negotiate a price.

You like by shrinking them down into suspended animation and storing them in a backpack?  Doable.

Don't forget: Toede is evil. Not sure if he wants to pay if he can just take them. I'd store them in a net under water, tied to her family's fishing boat. Just an idea :)

Keliantharas knows Shrink Item.

GM, please make the information about the identified items known.

I updated the Treasure posts.

So that you know, I am now going to be unavailable for at least 6 months.

I hope everyone has fun. And I hope to see you back here when I return in 6-10 months.

It's been great, playing here with you all, thank you Dragondog. I know I'll be here when you, hopefully return in due time. I wish you all the best, a lot of success in your endeavors and have fun along the way. Godspeed!

Yeah thanks Dragon, that was fun :). Was hoping we could divvy up the magic items before you go, because when you come back there's likely to be new players/characters. But I guess we could do that then.

Looking forward to you returning in 6 months. Stay safe :)

We can still divide the treasure, we don't need the GM for that, do we?

Just that some of the items aren't properly identified yet. I'm pretty keen for the tear, but we need to know what it does etc. Like I said not a huge deal, but we deserve our treasure among the three of us :)

I see, yes that's something we need to arrange. We also haven't received the reward, nor did we offer the additional eggs to Toede.

See you in six months!

Keliantharas ran out of pearls

Dang it, where's an Artificer's Monocle when you need it? ;)

I reckon either Toade could set us up with some, or could point us quickly in the direction.

There might be another handy white mage who can help out.

I got ill and am back home. I was thinking I'd pick the game up again a few days after Easter. If there's still interest.

Let me know what you think.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:22, Tue 04 Apr 2023.

Sorry to hear you got ill, get well soon.

And yes, still interested! - But take your time to get better.

Sounds good to me.

Happy to continue on here :)

Hope everyone had a nice Easter holiday? We've had family staying over and it was very nice to get together again :)

I'm still out I'm afraid. Could you remove me please?

So sorry to hear your leaving us, I'd have loved some interaction with Eucharista and her dog. :(

I'm sorry to hear that, I have removed you from the game.

The group is back in Flotsam, you have picked up the stuff in the Treasure thread, as well as a number of eggs. More eggs than Toede was looking for.

What is your next step?

We should grab a drink and discuss what to do with the surplus eggs. Other suggestions?

Down the road I would possibly be interested in whatever feats it takes to bind a dragon as a familiar....

I also wouldn't mind suiting back up better prepared for the tree ghost and rescuing the other lost arcana.

In regards to dragon familiars, it would probably be "easier" to get a dragon cohort by multiclassing into Dragon Rider. Easier because I already know the game mechanical requirements for doing that.

BAB +10. That doesn't really work for me....

Given that Keliantharas has charisma as a drop stat, the Dragon Familiar feat from Draconimicon and probably the Leadership feat might put such dreams out of reach (although 'great renown' and\or 'fairness and generosity' might help bridge the gap).  Oh well.

I don't have the Draconomicon, so I'm not sure on the details of that feat, but that might certainly be the case.

My two priorities, in order, are:

1) Identify all the items that we found. I think Keliantharas can do this?

2) Take the specified number of eggs to Lord Toede and collect the reward. I can't recall the amount being specified, but I expect given the bounty that it would be significant. He might also then be interested in other stuff we found (if we don't want it), and where we might purchase other items.

I'd probably withhold the fact that we found more eggs than he lost.

1. We have identified as many items we can at this point and would need pearls to identify the remaining ones.

2. Toede is missing six amphi dragon eggs. What your reward was hasn't been mentioned IC. You would have to ask him what he wants and what he knows IC to find out.

Then I guess there's nothing else to do but go and meet Lord Toede.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:21, Fri 14 Apr 2023.

Keliantharas can afford a single pearl to continue identifying items. I believe all the potions are identified, and if not that should be a skill check and not a spell.

Also, he should proooooobably identify an unidentified item he started with....

Of the magic items you found, only the sapphire hasn't been Identified. And the crystal sword is an artifact, so you don't really know anything more about it at this point.

All of you have been in Flotsam for years and you would know where to find merchants willing to buy or sell magic and other adventuring goods.

So there are item(s) to Identify, a decision to be made on what to do with the extra eggs, return the lost eggs for whatever reward Toede has promised you, decide what you want to keep, and figure out if there is something you can sell directly to Toede and skip the middleman.

Anything else?

Apart from looking out for any other interesting work, I think that's it.

Alright, my suggestion is: Hide the stuff we were not contracted to find, because Toede is not a good man. Not sure if he'd just take the extra eggs or willing to pay a fair price. We should try finding out a fair price first before offering them to him once we were paid.

With all loot but the sapphire identified, we can decide who gets to keep what and which items to sell. By the way: What kind of sword is it? Long-, short-, bastard-, great- ... I'll assume Geon & Loren’s Mystical Goods is the place to go to have it identified?

On that tangent: The music box "It can record the verbal components of spells as well as sonic-based effects of creatures such as harpies." Does that mean we could record a Bard's Countersong to disrupt sonic effects? That would be handy.

If we decide to go after the ghost tree, we will need a cleric, I'm not going there without spiritual support. Especially since ghosts tend to reform after being destroyed.

If we decide to unearth the arcana for Kel, we will need a cleric. So, perhaps we look for a new player? Also, three characters is a little small for a group - in my opinion.

I've already advertised for new players. And a cleric was one of the characters I was explicitly looking for. A rogue was the other.

Feel free to divide the loot in this thread or the Treasure thread if you like, that doesn't have to be done IC.

The crystal sword is a short sword. I've updated the Treasure thread.

Yes, that would be Geon & Loren’s Mystical Goods.

As a Bard can use Countersong a limited number of times per day, I'd say that it can be recorded, but a Bard would have to open the music box for it to have the intended effect. And it would count against the number of times they could use Bardic Music. If you can find a monster in the SRD that can use a sonic-based effect a limited number of times per day, I'd consider revising this ruling.

Feel free to make any plans here too as we can add that to the IC thread as part of your journey back to Flotsam. Such as what you're doing with the extra eggs and if you're bringing them with you to Toede when you report.

Are you going anywhere else before you go to Toede? Such as buying another pearl or three to Identify any remaining mysteries.

When we get started again, I would like daily posts.

I'm not online on Sundays and right now I'm not back at work yet, so I may be found here at strange hours.

Keliantharas can always ask his book-hoarding friends for help identifying the artifact(s), as well as possibly holding on to a few extra eggs while a suitable use is devised.

I work shifts in an ICU, and I have entire weeks were all my shifts are 12 hour and/or I have two non-consecutive shifts in one day.  I can try to post close to daily but there's no way I can keep up a daily post rate for long.

I'm happy to get the sapphire identified at the shop, but I'm not sure if we have the gold to do so. I'd have to wait to see exactly what it does, but I'd probably be keen to put my hand up for it.

Happy with the other suggestions, though I'd prefer not to leave eggs behind in our rooms etc, I'd prefer to take them with us and just have them hidden in packs etc away from those we need to give Toede.

It would be less expensive to buy a pearl and let Keliantharas Identify it. And with a Cloistered Cleric in the group (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/var...iantCloisteredCleric), you wouldn't have to buy pearls either. But as level 8 characters, is saving 100 stl per Identify a valid reason to pick that variant over the standard Cleric? If you didn't want the variant anyway.

The Artificer's Monocle (Magic Item Compendium page 188 iirc) allows to use identify when a 'Detect Magic' is cast. It's 1500stl and means anyone with Detect Magic could also identify items without the use of pearls. Of course, break even is after 15 items were identified with it :)

I know that item has been brought up in one of my games once before, but I don't have that book. So I have to decline it. I don't have anything against the item per se, but without official data, it would have to be found rather than bought.

Hiding the eggs, Caitlin would put them in a sack and tie them to the fishing boat of her brothers. It's highly unlikely anyone would go look there for something valuable.

How many pearls are you buying for Identify and who are paying for them? Or are you waiting to do that after you've been to Toede?

I'm missing what the cloistered cleric gets that identifies magic items for free.

Down the road Keliantharas can also get Analyze Dweomer and that was the only thing I noticed that at least pays for itself down the road (15 magic items down the road to be precise).

A cloistered cleric has the Identify spell in their spell list and the pearl is only needed for arcane spells. So the cloistered cleric does it for free.

Hello everyone!

Unfortunately, I have some bad news given the most recent discussions. I'm not a cloistered cleric!
The good news, however, is that I AM a new Cleric joining the party hopefully shortly! Looking forward to joining the fun!

Welcome Reagel :)

Welcome to the party! A cleric is a cleric, leave the identifying to the mage ;)

Sounds good to me! I can just take care of all your Divine requirements. Hehe!

Welcome!

I will try to catch up with planning tomorrow, when my weekend begins and this week of hell at work ends.

Now that you're with Toede. What are you doing?

Sorry, I meant to post something meaningful, but it's my mom's 75th b-day on Sunday, so we're prepping the party. Will get better after May 1st though.

Hi, so I heard you were in need of a Rogue. So I made Tekissi who is believe it or not a solid competent Rogue in everything but the social skills.

And he's pretty solid when it comes to size and build too.

Welcomne Tekissi :)

Woo, another new player! Looking forward to seeing how we bump into each other. Hehe.

As I looked over the cleric population in Flotsam, I made some changes to the temples and shrines entry at the bottom of msg #7 in the Information thread to specify the number of clerics assigned to each temple/shrine.

What's your next step?

Caitlin has the eggs, just waiting for her to post.

It's only today that my schedule cleared up and allows me some time to compose a post. Will put one up now, sorry for the delay.

Sorry for the unplanned delays. Will hopefully catch up tomorrow.

um... it's been a while since the new players were added, perhaps we can find a swift way to introduce them as I know I get impatient when my character sheet is done and I'm waiting to get into the action. Especially in play-by-post this has a tendency to drag on, is there a way to speed it up?

I started an introductory thread for them, but we can get them into the main thread quickly. Just let me know what you want to do and we can cover that OOC.

We can RP a visit to Geon & Loren’s Mystical Goods or we can summarize what you want to do.

You may remember that I was supposed to be in the US all year, but that I came home because I became ill. I thought my journey was over, but over the last little while it has continued to press upon me that I need to go back. So I am.

I am thus placing this game on hiatus again.

Depending on how things go this time, I may not be back until spring next year.

I wish all of you the best and hope to see you then.

I'll admit that I would like to go on, but I'm also happy you are better now and real life always superceds game life :)

All the best and hope you come back eventually, at least I will be waiting :)

I would like to continue too. However, slowly hiking the Appalachian Trail will make that difficult.

I'm game for continuing, especially at a sedate pace.

I will be AFK all week - either because of being unplugged on vacation or because I'm packing full-time working hours into two and a half days.

I will be back home soon and intend to get this game started again in less than 10 days. Let me know if you are still here and still interested in the game.

Woohoo! - Yes, yes I am!

Still here :)

Still around, a bit more swamped than past time (recently switched wards so I have a pot of homework about how people do things outside the ICU).

Looking forward to continuing our adventures. Also, I might have recruited another player for the team :)

Awesome. The two new people we have haven't said anything yet, so we'll see if they are stylish here or not. When I get back home, and don't have to do this on a cell, ill get into recruiting.

Just a few more days now.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:07, Mon 04 Sept 2023.

I'm home!

Welcome home, dear! - Glad you made it! :D

We waited for you, sitting next to the river ;)

https://i.ibb.co/hZ5WjZW/Caitlin011.jpg
This message was last edited by the player at 14:54, Wed 29 Nov 2023.

I sat next to a number of rivers too. It's good to be back.

I'm looking for people to fill out the group. I hope that doesn't take to long.

I have added two new players to the game and I am waiting on responses from others to see who the third player is.

Great! - Looking forward to getting going again :)

Hello. Minotaur cleric of Kiri-Jolith here.

Good Morning,

my name is William, I am your human procurement operator, there are evil tongues that call me a thug sometimes.


(is there a char sheet in general that we use ... ??)

Front-liners; wonderful news!

I'll be so far in the back that you won't be able to see me, some call it running, I call it safety.....

There is no specific character sheet that players should use, pick whichever you prefer that include all the necessary information.

Welcome Kora, welcome William, glad to have you aboard!

Hit points. Max for 1st level, roll the others?

You get max hp for all levels. And so do the monsters you fight.

Magic items only from SRD? No Belt of Healing or Wands of Lesser Vigor?

The books listed in link to a message in this game and the House Rules are the only available sources for everything. That includes magic items.

Welcome William and Kora :)

Cleric and rogue?

Moonflute is a druid, tracker and scout. Back line mostly. She is also a master player of various woodwind instruments :)

Moonflute, we really should give a concert next downtime, Caitlin has a decent singing voice - for a non-bard :D

I will be ready with the char sheet on the week-end, work is eating me up right now.

Two out of the three new players are done with their character creation and they are in intro threads to familiarize themselves with the setting and their characters.

The third player is almost done too, so I'm assuming that we can move forward as a whole pretty soon.

As we are creating a new thread for the full group, you may have two active IC threads at the same time. Feel free to post in both until the old threads are closed.

Did we lose our klepto?

It's been a while and now that I look back I can't remember why Keliantharas was convinced that Micah is a secret store of lots of ancient magic....
This message was last edited by the player at 18:58, Mon 25 Sept 2023.

For real-life reasons, William bowed out.

I'm not sure why Keliantharas had that conviction either. As you say, it's been a while.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:03, Tue 26 Sept 2023.

In the House Rules, it said that a natural 20 always was a critical hit. My intention was that a critical hit always is a critical hit and you don't have to roll to confirm that. I have updated the text in the House Rules to better reflect that intention. Or in other words, if you have a weapon that crits on 19-20 and you roll a 19, it's a crit.

After my post, I'm taking a week long (and much needed) vacation.  I don't know if I will be able to post at all, and I will only have my phone so any posts will be particularly short and lack any styled text.

Thanks for letting us know. Enjoy your vacation!

Ok guys, let's divy up the treasure for the last quest so we can get started with the new one. From my point of view there are three people to have a claim: Moonflute, Keliantharas and Caitlin.

Caitlin is not the stealthy kind, so the Cloak of Elvenkind or Oil of Darkness are of no real use to her. Same goes for Fox's Cunning or the crossbow, she can't even use the short sword and the burnt out ioun stone would be redundant because of her Everburning Torch. She could use the Bag of Tricks, the Feather Token and the potion of Lesser Restoration. My suggestion would be to split the healing potions as evenly as possible.

Of course, this is open for discussion, no claim is final - especially since we don't know the properties of the sword or sapphire or how much the eggs will fetch.

Reward
Cloak of Elvenkind
Feather Token - Fan Caitlin
Potion of Lesser Restoration Caitlin
Potion of Fox's Cunning
Light Crossbow +1
Bag of Tricks - Rust Caitlin

Loot
* A small and delicate wooden box of curious workmanship.
* A short sword made out of a single crystal.
* A fist-sized pale blue sapphire that was cut to look like a teardrop.
* A dull gray prism with an illumination equivalent to that of a torch.

* Potion of Cure Light Wounds x11 4x Caitlin, 4x Keliantharas, 3x Moonflute
* Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds x10 3x Caitlin, 4x Keliantharas, 4x Moonflute
* Potion of Cure Serious Wounds x4. 2x Caitlin, 1x Keliantharas, 1x Moonflute

* Oil of Darkness

Not to forget

* 5 draconic eggs to be split among the group

Feel free to talk about treasure in the treasure thread. That way we have everything treasure-related in one place. Though you can talk about it here too, if you prefer.

As I'm assuming the group would check sooner or later, I can let you know that the sapphire also is an artifact. And as one of the two incoming clerics is a cloistered cleric, you will have access to Identify without the related arcane costs to cast that spell.

Yay! - That will make things much easier :D

I would like to suggest we keep the discussion about treasure in here, then add the decisions to the treasure thread so we don't end up with a clutter of dozens of messages. If we can all agree to that (including the newcomers) :)

Sounds like a good idea.

Some notes;
I like the idea of restorative items being spread around and earmarked for emergency.  Especially given that we have two incoming clerics, having some emergency healing handy to non-healers sounds like a good idea.

It's taboo for wizards to use weapons other than staves or daggers (or a short sword he can claim he thought was a big dagger and has proficiency with) but he'd rather hang on to the sapphire tear until he can determine who of the three best benefit from it. I'm guessing it's a tear of Mishakal (sp?) from context but that doesn't mean anything to me in game. No clue about the sword other than it does abjuration.

No strong opinions about any of the other gear. He might want to try raising a dragon if that's feasible (and possibly taking it as a familiar to fill that gap if feasible) but honestly he'd rather have a metallic friend.

The eggs are amphi dragon eggs and I don't really have much canon information on them, so if you decided to hatch them, I'll have to figure that out. Don't take that as a reason to not do that if doing that is what you want to do. Who wouldn't want an ugly dragon-toad?

All three new players are done with character creation. Two of them are in the midst of their individual intro thread so that they can familiarize themselves with their characters.

If the sapphire is a Tear of Mishakal (yes the spelling was correct and there's a list of gods in the Information thread link to a message in this game), one of the clerics, that soon will be joining the group, might have some information on that.

Familiars are generally animals before they become familiars, so figuring out a game mechanical way for having a dragon as a familiar would have to be done before you could have one.

Of the three characters that were part of the group when they got the short sword, only Moonflute is proficient in using it. And only one of the new characters is proficient with short swords.

I guess in order to turn an amphidragon into a familiar, you'd need to take the 'Improved Familiar' feat and have a certain level (7th as per SRD, https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Improved_Familiar). That allows a Pseudo Dragon as familiar. Also, not sure how much downtime we have, but raising an 'animal' or creature until it can accompany you on an adventure, may take longer.

Raising an animal, depending on what type of animal it is, can take years. I'm not sure how long it would take to get an amphi dragon old enough to go adventuring.

There's a version in a book not on the reading list (Draconomicon) that specifically handles dragons as familiars. It requires one to speak draconic and varies up to level 11 depending on the type of dragon. White dragons night be a 5 or 7; it's been a while and I don't have my books on vacation.

Either way, I'm keen to have a familiar that breathes fire or something else. Worse case scenario, Toad gets a magical disguise.

All three of the new players have completed character creation. And they are working on their intro threads. It may be a good idea to start working on bringing your current threads to a close so that we can bring the new and the old together.

In reply to Keliantharas Warden (msg # 367):

I think there is a War Beast template that mirrors combat training for mounts and familiars.

In reply to Caitlin Merrywick (msg # 359):

Moonflute has no interest in any of the items except the Tear of Mishakal. She will take some healing potions I suppose, seeing there are so many. Happy to take Caitlin's suggestion on potions.

Unless I missed something, so far we have:

* Bag of Tricks - Rust Caitlin
* Feather Token - Fan Caitlin
* Potion of Lesser Restoration Caitlin

* A fist-sized pale blue sapphire that was cut to look like a teardrop - Moonflute

* 1 draconic egg - Keliantharas

* Potion of Cure Light Wounds x11 4x Caitlin, 4x Keliantharas, 3x Moonflute
* Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds x10 3x Caitlin, 4x Keliantharas, 4x Moonflute
* Potion of Cure Serious Wounds x4. 2x Caitlin, 1x Keliantharas, 1x Moonflute

Does Keliantharas want to try to pass off the crystal short sword as a long knife?

In addition, we have the following unclaimed items:

* Cloak of Elvenkind
* Potion of Fox's Cunning
* Light Crossbow +1
* A small and delicate wooden box of curious workmanship.
* A dull gray prism with an illumination equivalent to that of a torch.
* Oil of Darkness
* 4 draconic eggs to be split among the group

Do you want to make any additions to that?
Do you want to keep anything for the newcomers?
Do you want to sell anything?

One of the new characters has completed their intro thread.

Ok, so I will add the stuff agreed upon to my sheet.

About the box: I was thinking Kel would like to hold onto it, if not, Cait would be happy to take the box and have Dialis play a piece they usually sang a duett to, so she can sing with an instrument accompanying her. But that is totally optional.

I'm open to keep stuff we don't want to use for the newcomers.

I just noticed that you divided 11 Cure Moderate Wounds potions, but you only have 10. So I'm lowering Caitlin's portion of those potions to 2 instead of 3.

The characters listed in the NPC section are there in case their players return, and they may be removed from the game, I don't intend to NPC them as your adventures continue.