Here it be. The always necessary OOC thread. We'll probably be using this a lot as the game progresses and it will be our first stop in hashing things out and getting the game started.

Ok folks, if you can see this thread then you have been accepted for one of the two Whiterock games. (This one, to be exact!) For now we just have this OOC thread as things get all sorted and organized. Please feel free to start chatting about characters and all the fun we're going to have or whatever.

I should mention that Cha Wiz gets first option at a Cleric, Cha Qui gets first option at a rogue and Cha ApM gets first option at a magic user.

Of course, I don't care much about the actual make up of the party. Almost anything is ok with me. But I don't recommend 5 Diviners.

Finally please post a message here or in a new PM to me that lets me know you understand whats going on and continue to desire to play in this Castle Whiterock Campaign.

Thanks.

I understand what's going on and am still here ready to go.

Greetings lads :)

With a cleric, rogue and wizard dibsed I guess that leaves a biffer and open role for the remaining two of us.

Canin, what source material is open to us to create our characters, and what's the point buy?
This message was last edited by the player at 01:12, Fri 19 Mar 2010.

Sweet!  I still need a diety list to work up my idea. I still wish to proceed in the game.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:12, Fri 19 Mar 2010.

Greetings all! Your Wizard here. I expect this will be great fun!

Hey everyone!

I'm entirely in the picture of what's going on. I'm still fine to play anything, so I'll be probably filling up a spot that's needed and not picked. :)

Rockin'.  I'll be playing a rogue of one sort or another.

Oh, and I understand what's going on.

Guess that leaves me the spot of a frontliner type, eh? Hmmm

Would be good to know resources, level and such so I can start actually brainstorming :P

Sorry all, right now just trying to get organized. I'll be using this weekend to get you some better information and make this place start looking game-ready.

AS for material, I generally am willing to at least consider anything. Just know that I keep a handy by item veto power handy. Most WoTC material is acceptable but other things may be as well. Just let me know what you're looking at (and be prepared to explain in detail if I don't have access to the material; though I have access to a lot of resources) and I'll make a call on whether it'll be acceptable or not. I like providing my players with lots of option but I will say no to things that I feel are unworkable for reasons of balance or logic or whatever. For example, there a several spells in the Spell Compendium that I'll probably be giving the big NO to because I really think they are far too powerful or open to abuse. However, other spells from the same book are more than welcome.

Awesome! So how do you want us to roll stats? Point-buy? If so, how many points we got to play with?

Also, what level are we starting at? Or did I miss this information? :)

Level 1. Roll 4d6 reroll 1s drop the lowest. Use the RpOL Dice Roller

And arrange where we like?

but of course

Sweet! Canin, could you please make my character sheet field user-editable so I can start typing him up?

Many thanks.

All the players now have a user editable character sheet.

Oh and just a note: Have fun making characters and such but please don't get too attached to any particular aspect of the character including background (personality you can probably safely start crafting without any fear of DM law coming down). You are all approved players but no particular character or aspect of a character is final until we actually getting the ball rolling with some IC threads.

Also, I know lots of players, including me at times, love to make elaborate backgrounds for their characters. Just remember you are only level 1 at the beginning of this campaign and hopefully the really defining moments of your characters lives will be the ones that happen in game. A well crafted personality including fears, hopes, dreams, addictions or whatever else it is that determines how your character acts and lives their life now is more important than a well written story about what happened in the past.

Are there any generic rules you can give us on backstories.  i.e. _____ and _____ are good sources of info, don't _____ unless your character _____, don't you dare _____ or I'll _____ your _____ out, etc.

I think I'll go with a... Paladin? How's that sound guys? Kinda like a big moving thin bucket. Frontliner.

Not sure yet thou. I might go barbarian or something like that.

Paladins and Barbarians can be great. Are we shooting for a Lawful Good
group?

I tend toward NG myself.  I'm still waiting for a deity list, for a specific.  I tend to focus on healing, without taking the healing domain.  I'm also more of a ranged attacker than a melee.  Although with the stats I rolled up, I might have to dump DEX since it's the least important stat for a cleric.

A Pally would be nice to have.  A backup spellcaster. For whoever our rogue is, look at Scout from Complete Adventurer.

So at the moment we got tentatives:

Cha Ver: biffer (paladin or barbarian)
Cha Wiz: healer (cleric, non-frontliner)
Cha Apm: caster (wizard, non-frontliner)
Cha Qui: rogue (various, unknown)

That sound about right?

I'm pretty happy with good as well. Not a fan of evil.

There will be rules about alignment coming. Nothing too drastic.

In fact I think I have to politely ask everyone to slow down slightly. As we all know I'm trying to get three games up and running and we're looking for long epic games here. We can afford to take a little time putting the characters together. I'm glad everyone's excited, so am I, and good things are coming. Before the weekends out I hope to have all the relevant info your going to need for character creation posted in threads and then we can get down the some serious character generation and roleplaying. Feel free to keep talking concepts and/or roll stats to start giving yourselves ideas of what you have to play with but give me a little time and you'll have everything else you need too.

Certainly not evil.  Scout looks cool, but for the character I have in mind, I'm probably going to go with a Rogue/Swashbuckler combo with the Daring Outlaw feat from Complete Scoundrel

That's a nice combo.  Plus it will give us a 2nd line warrior type.  Flank with the Pally or our mysterious #5, and that should help big time.

I've got the info on Gods up now and there's much more to come about character Generation and the world in general but as it is 2:00am my time I must pack it in for the evening. I'm actually getting to PLAY a game (for the first time in months) on Sunday but Saturday and Sunday Evening should provided opportunity for more of these important posts.

I am going with Olidyra.  Travel will be one domain, and I am kicking around the other.

Hmm...

I don't want to rush anywhere. That's a fact. I personally, would like to develop a character form a background I have in mind. What do I mean under that? I mean, I'm not picking a class and write a background for it, but the other way around. I think up a possible personality and background, and then give it a class.

But yea, it's probably around something that will be a frontline kicker. Paladin, barbarian, fighter or something completely other thing, I don't know.

DM, am I allowed to take in consideration the Book of the Nine Swords by chance? Has some interesting things.

Once our DM has more time on his hands and I'm done putting together a draft of background and personality, I'll see about getting the info down.

Questions:

Will our characters know each other up in advance? Or just some of us?

In either case, would anyone be interested in making a shared background? :)

Personally, this character is one I tried playing before, but the game collapsed after just two sessions.  So I know his background and personality pretty well.

There's always the possibility of my character having a casual link to another's past, though it may not be positive. =D

And, yes, I should be a frontline "assistant."  Sneak Attack where possible.

With such a nicely balanced group seemingly forming, I am thinking of taking a bard, with a leaning towards frontline fighting. I rolled pretty well on the stats, so he could be a nice back-up for everyone.

Two drums and a cymbal fall off a cliff.

Hmmm...

I've been reading BotN recently, and I've found Swordsage or Warblade to be quite interesting. Especially the Swordsage. Crusader is as well an interesting thing, but my approach of personality would not really fit.

What I really like in Swordsage is the whole "mind clarity" thing. I have an interesting personality I would like to play out.

So I'm asking our kind DM, should I continue thinking about this concept or now? :)

I might as well consider a Warblade as mentioned above. Difference is, Swordsage is not really a frontliner, while a Warblade is exactly that...
This message was last edited by the player at 12:37, Sat 20 Mar 2010.

In reply to Cha Ver (msg #32):

I tend to hear very bad things about that book and I know a lot of DMs disallow it. However, my personal experience with it is nill but I have access to it with my face to face playing friends so let me check out a swordsage and get back to you as soon as I have.

All righto. Thanks for the heads up. :)

What I can say: lots of DMs disallow it because they do not actually understand how the whole martial process work. I know for a fact lots of them just look at powers and say "no I won't allow it", but they don't check actually how they work, how restricted they are, and so on. (especially the part that you need to prepare your powers like a regular wizard).

But hey, if it's a problem - I have no problem with that either. I have about 20 ideas still in my pocked, and still growing. :D

If anyone has any suggestions for frontliner classes, I'm all ears (eyes). :)

In reply to Cha Ver (msg #34):

You know what, I borrowed the book just now (one of my game buddies is a neighbor) and this doesn't look too bad to me at all. Also, if I decide I was wrong then I can think of a few easy ways to lessen the power of the class very easily, such as making the full round action to re-ready a maneuver provoke attacks of opportunity. So go ahead and we'll see how it goes. In case it needed to be said: I reserve the right to disallow any maneuver, stance or feat from this book on a case by case basis. Especially as I don't know most of them.

Hey all, I thought I would copy this post of mine over from the other Whiterock game as I thought it might apply here too. I posted it to give my opinion on their discussion about shared backgrounds, whether or not they know each other, should they be a mercenary group etc. One of the players had just said they had always thought the idea of professional adventurer was kind of silly.

__________________________________________________________________________________________
Personally I prefer professional adventurer to mercenary company but I won't force you.

However, the land your going to be "adventuring" in does have a tradition of companies of adventurers often naming themselves in some way such as: The Company of the Tempest, or the Fellowship of the Broken Arrow. Basically, they are a meeting ground between adventurer and mercenary. They may take contracts and broker deals like Mercenaries but they are often as much in it for Glory, exploration or personal missions of some sort and will often act according to their own agendas and not just as simple swords (or spells) for hire. Personally, I won't force any such decision on you all (this is a group decision for yourselves to make) but I would suggest that you agree to be a VERY recently formed such company of adventures looking for their first job/mission/quest/goal/purpose whatever. Perhaps some of more shared history than others or not as you like.

That's your DMs two cents.
________________________________________________________________________________________

A Mercenary group sounds fine to me :)

Hey Canin, for money should we roll for it or start with the maximum as per the PHB?

I don't suppose you mean adventuring company do you? :)

It looks the pregens are all outfitted with about 150gp worth of stuff so everybody can take that as their starting gold.

Of course, that's what I meant ;)

Excellent, Cha Bas is allowed to continue playing. (or you know, getting ready to play)

By the way, as soon as anyone decides on a character name I'd be happy to change your monikers from the Cha series to something more respectable like Bob the Human.

Few question:
Languages: 1] Is Draconic the language for Magic?
           2] Are there other languages associate with magical lore?
           3] Are there human languages besides Common.
           Basically, besides free Common I have 4 language points
           and I want to get languages that can be useful.

Backgrounds - Do you want to go over them first as a PM or just added
            it to the character sheet?

Ok everyone, a couple new notices have been put up. Feel free to discuss or ask any questions you may have.

Two of you have new names now.

A couple specific answers to some specific questions:

Cha Qui - The Lasher prestige class lucks fun to me. I envy you, always had a desire to play a whip user myself. That and an all dagger, all the time, fighter/rogue.

Mordred - magic stuff could be in any language. Definitely Draconic, Celestial, Abysall,
Elven, and possibly any of the elemental languages. Other possible useful languages? Gnomes have some history in this kingdom and Dwarven kingdoms both Good and Evil exist in the mountains which border the kingdom to the East. Knowing the languages of your enemy is always a good tactic and without giving anything away you can always assume D&D enemies at some time will probably include various goblinoid, orc and giant races. I won't promise or rate the usefulness of any particular language because I'm a big believer in the enjoyment of discovery in a game like this.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:25, Mon 22 Mar 2010.

Oh and Mordred, backgrounds can be discussed in PM or you can drop them right in your description or character sheet and let me know. I might ask for changes either way but you can always just edit your sheet if I do so go with whatever makes you most comfortable.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:25, Mon 22 Mar 2010.

Howdy gang.  I don't get around here much on the weekends.  Married, 3 kids, and all that. Plus it was worldwide game day at my FLGS on Saturday, along with 2 stores giving out free stuff for the first day of spring. Wheee!

I am willing to consider a shared background. I'm a human cleric, who worships Olidyra, with domains of Travel, and either Celerity or Trickery.

Beyond that, anything goes.  Someone drop me a PM if they are interested.

Ooh. Travel? Nice. My final decision is to go with a monk. :) So we can actually fit together well. Still waiting for an approval from our DM about specific details thou.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:23, Mon 22 Mar 2010.

Wow, main party frontliner with no armour. Good luck :)

Hey. It's just an idea. :P But I rolled well. Do not doubt in me :D

It's still not a final decision. I'm sliding between paladin and monk :)


EDIT:

I'll go with a paladin :)
This message was last edited by the player at 13:34, Mon 22 Mar 2010.

Ooh, I hope I didn't sway you!

The rogue is apparently a frontline support (I'm not really familiar with swashbuckler), and my bard is going to be up there next to you yelling and screaming (in tune!), so you're not alone.

But a paladin sounds pretty good :) I'd be nervous about my protector wearing less armour than me!

Hey folks, I don't know if you're aware of this (I only just discoverd myself!) but...

THE DM SEES ALL!

Apparently I get auto CCed all PMs between players. So best not be saying bad stuff about me!

Yes, DM sees all. :)

So do moderators.

It's just made for the sake of keeping up rules when it comes to content.

Interesting alignment system. I know you let us select where we start, but will the BM move our numbers based on actions taken in the game - becoming more or less good, or chaotic or lawful? I think that would be very interesting.

I am about and L2 and G6 for my character.

WRT, the caster level check for diseases/curses/etc.  Could these be improved with high ranks in certain skills, such as arcana, heal, or nature?

I went:
    Align : Law 4/ Good 3

I'll probably go something like L5G5.

G1 C5

Uh oh... All these lawful people!

You have some problems with law?! *serious look*

^^

Well. I have to stick to law. And hopefully, you won't give me the reason to smite you :D

Answers for questions:

Mordred: Like in the regular alignment system if I feel that your character is behaving in ways not matching your stated alignment I'll probably ask you to change it. For RP reasons you yourselves may decide that your characters outlooks on life are changing and alter them yourselves. Without a traumatic reason drastic changes quickly would be unrealistic and I don't intend to punish anyone whose alignment is changing. People (and monsters!) change and very few beings alignments should be completely rigid anyway.

Cha Wiz, just as there are no skills which benefit dispel magic there are no skills which benefit those other spells either. However its not a bad idea. I might consider allowing a synergy bonus of +2 for those who have a certain number of ranks in relevant skills but for now I'd like to try out the system as I originally found it and see how it goes. Lets try tinker level 1 and see how it goes before we up it to tinker level 2.

Radoslav, with the removal of use rope as a skill perhaps we'll add an equivalent requirement in say...balance...for the Prestige Class you were looking at.

Ok folks, we're rolling along nicely, next step for me later today or maybe tomorrow will be to provide the general background and geography and stuff for the game. (Where are we and what does it look like!) As well as some guidance to tie all your characters together and into the game. I'm going to suggest you all know each other to some degree (perhaps some almost not at all!) and have decided to form an Adventuring Company as previously discussed. I'll give more later like I said.

Near as I can tell the IC game should be starting within a couple days (or less!)

I think we've got a very nice group shaping up here. Should be fun.

Hey everyone, after you've posted your rolls in the rumors thread I go in and edit your post with private lines to you with the rumors you've heard. You can of course share or not share any information you have at your leisure. Or according to what your character would do.

Cool.  I like rumors.

BTW, are we using Flaws and Traits from Unearthed Arcana?

Do paladins get free pancakes? :D

Anyway. Yea, the flaws/traits thingy could be interesting. ^^

EDIT:
DM, Can we use "The Tangled Web" online sheets? :)

If you don't know what that is, see here, one of my older sheets:
http://www.thetangledweb.net/f...w_char.php?cid=33523
This message was last edited by the player at 15:53, Tue 23 Mar 2010.

I suppose I should name my character, eh?  I'm so horrible at this.  Anyone with ideas on where to get good names?

Also, I see some of us have surnames, and others don't.  Is there some pattern we should follow?

Claire Ikmann!

No?  Try these:
http://ohthehugemanatee.net/word-o-matic/greek-heroes/
http://ohthehugemanatee.net/word-o-matic/star-wars/
http://ohthehugemanatee.net/word-o-matic/bible-names/

Or these:

http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-name.php

I just used the edit feature and the power of the Internet to make a Word-o-matic for iconic D&D character names.  (Those names that appear in the D&D books.)

http://ohthehugemanatee.net/word-o-matic/1530/

   I fear I was a foundling and carry no family name.

I sometimes see names that I'm sure people put a lot of effort into without considering their practicality. El'eieiala't'dul Meid'd'ataigneola, I'm sure, carries great significance for a large slab of the world's fictional characters, but it makes it hard for someone to call out your name in a hurry. "Hey! Ebl'eri, Elleembra, Eieid'mai, El'eieiala't'dul! Watch out... for... that.... 50ft..... drop.... :("
This message was last edited by the player at 20:02, Tue 23 Mar 2010.

That reminded me of a sentence. :D

"It's an illusion. No spell can reshape the side of a mountain like that. I disbelieve and walk off the 500' cliff."

Flaws from Unearthed Arcana. Uh, I'll allow one per character. Two as suggested by the book is too many in my opinion. Also, if you're going to have a flaw make it fit your character. I don't like things like taking flaws thoughtlessly simply to grab extra feats.

Dena, that's a nice looking character sheet and you or anyone else is welcome to use that resource. But I won't be making it a requirement. Anyone who decides to put together their character sheet in that manner: please put a link to it in your character sheet section of this game.

Backgrounds: Ok everyone, I'd like to suggest some conceit to ease of play and quicker getting startedness. As this is PbP things can sometimes seem to move at a glacial pace. So lets skip the IC part where you all make introductions and work your way around to deciding to work together for some reason. Let's assume you've already done that.

All of you are adventures for some reason or another, you may be looking for wealth or glory. You may be looking for experience and knowledge. Perhaps, as in the case of our cleric exploration is a religious calling. Or as in the case of a Paladin, working with other adventures often provides opportunity to fight evil and help the downtrodden. Your reasons for wanting to adventure are your own, but you all want to do it. (and seriously, if you don't, why the heck did you apply to play "the greatest dungeon story ever told!"??) Some of you may have known each other for a long time or even be related - Mellar and Lonhro I'm looking at you. Others may be more recent relations.

Of course, an aspiring adventure in the Kingdom of Morrain at this time knows that the town of Cillamar is the place to go. There is a famous inn there, The Slumbering Drake, widely known to be run by a a wealthy and purportedly powerful sorceress, is a favorite of travelers for its good comfort and relatively cheap and fair prices and the sorceress is known to be found of explorers and adventurers. So what is a young aspiring seeker of ________ (whatever applies to your character) going to do but head to Cillamar and the Slumbering Drake. Whether along the way or prior to or just after arrival you have met one another, swapped a few notes and come to the conclusion that forming an adventuring company makes sense for each of your own reasons. Along the road you have all also picked up at least one interesting story or rumor. The sort adventurers love to hear.

Thus, I'd like to start you as a group in The Inn of the Slumbering Drake in the town of Cillamar. Hows this all sound to you folks?

Also, just waiting on Millar and Dena's character sheet and then we're probably ready to roll.

Any questions?

None here, and I'm ready to go :)

Sheet will be done in an hour. :)

Oh and it'd probably be easiest for everyone to give a little introduction of their characters. Just cover whatever details of appearance or personality or background that the group as a whole would know. Feel free to keep secrets, you don't have to assume everyone is your best friend yet or ever will be, but a little general knowledge will probably help the group gel together more easily.

Mellar is a priest of Olidyra, newly ordained.  He and his brother Lonhro were raised by halflings when their parents died in house fire when they were only children.

Mellar is very easy going, but also very curious.  He is obviously a bit of an outdoorsman, skilled in nature, and survival.  He is also knowledgeable about religious matters, and can cook quite well.  He is also skill in the treating of wounds and injuries.

More to come when I have time to write it.

   Mordred is a scholar. A Wizard who recently completed his apprenticeship. He
was an orphan raised by a kindly blacksmith and his wife. At about 11 he was
made an apprentice.

    Perhaps he seems a bit too quiet at times. But 7 years as someone's assistant
as they travel from town to town may make a scholar but not improve social skills
very much.

    Mordred dresses in black robes, and black gloves and black leather boots. Easier
to keep clean then white or colorful garments. He walks with a staff that looks like
he cut it from a tree limb. There is also a dagger at his belt.

   One could consider him handsome if his features were not always half hidden with
the cowls of his robes. He tends to talk softly. Oh, if the group has been together
for a while there is a small tattoo on his left shoulder. Beautiful work - of a Red
Dragon flying over a Black Moon.

I'll leave the overall personal detail for the game.

What I've posted in character description however is there for anyone to read if he or she wills so.

"A young human in her early twenties. Dena wears a full set of clothes suited for someone who never knows what to expect. Sturdy boots, leather breeches, a belt with a few pouches and a sword sheeted on the side, a sturdy shirt, heavy gloves and a cloak. She wears a large, silver holy symbol of Justicia around her neck. Dena wears no armor at all, but a large shield that she wears on her back, half of her very own size. Beside the sword on her waist, another weapon, a crossbow hangs on her shoulder, next to the shield. The young woman certainly does look attractive, and seems to be a very friendly person from the first impression. An immediate notice in her appearance is certainly her silvery hair."

Radoslav "Rav" Meick is a young human, 5'7" and around 160 lbs.  His dark brown hair is kept relatively long and kept back out of his chestnut eyes.  The studded leather he wears is well worn but looks sturdy, and the rest of his clothes are in other shades of brown.  At his hip is a coiled whip, and the handle of another peeks from behind his backpack.  He has a good number of knives secured about his person, and takes great care to remember where each is.

He has a compulsive personality and will act on a whim.  He has a disdain for laws he doesn't agree with and with authority in general.  Regardless, he avoids conflict when possible.

Lonhro is Mellar's brother and is, for all intents and purposes, a fighter. He wear a chain shirt and carries a shield around, and his only real weapon is a rapier. He spent some years keeping order in his foster parents' tavern in Bread-in-Hand and took to spinning tales to keep the guests' minds on something other than fighting. He has the gift of the gab and is a likeable chap, and over the course of his tenure in his family's inn he has picked up all sort of interesting skills and snippets.

Ok folks, I've put up the first IC thread and a map of the Inn's main room where you all are currently sitting together.

I think everyone's ready to go and any little details of character creation or background witing left can be fixed up as we go.

Hey everyone, the Half-elven bard is in fact a woman. I should have been more clear about that. Lonhro, I edited your post to reflect this fact.

That's okay. I only thought she sounded awful as a man ;)

Lonhro, when I was looking through the books for musical instruments for Rav to "prefer" (he's just being difficult) I found an entry in Complete Adventurer, page 124, on Masterwork Instruments.  It lists several, each offering a different effect with Bardic Music.  Have a look if you've not already.

Yeah I like those slight modifications. I think Drum was probably the toughest from memory. But I chose Oratory with this guy, mostly because he has a shield and a weapon and a ukelele or harp would get in the way :)

Love the idea of Lonhro reciting bold epic poetry while wading into battle to bolster the spirits of his comrades.

That's the plan. Whether I can actually produce award-winning inspirational poetry on the fly is another issue :)
This message was last edited by the player at 01:41, Sat 27 Mar 2010.

Before I get crumbled by Cookie, what's the price on such a bottle of wine?

Usual pricing is around these numbers:

Wine:
Common (pitcher) 2 sp 6 lb.
Fine (bottle)         10 gp 1½ lb.

Imported Dwarven Stout: 3sp/mug

Imported Elven Blush Wine: 10gp/bottle

Common Ale: 5cp/mug
Fancy Ale: 7cp/mug
Pumpkin Spice Ale: 1sp/mug

Common Wine: 1sp/pitched
Local mixed berry wine: 2sp/pitcher

Cheese and fruit platter: 3sp
Bread and Cheese platter: 2sp
Assorted Meat jerky and cheese platter: 7sp
Assorted smoked fish platter: 5sp
Seasonal steamed or roasted vegetables: 1sp

Meal: roast venison with herb potatoes: 4sp
Meal: beef stew with crusty bread: 2sp
Meal: poached trout with vegetables: 6sp

Assoted sweetcakes, pastries, or pie (per serving): 2cp

Stabling (per horse): 3sp/day or 2gp/week
Common Room: 4sp/day
Double Room: 1gp/day
Suite: 3gp/day or 20go/week
Hot bath: 1sp
Food delivered to room: +2 sp to cost of food.

I'll be posting after work tomorrow.

Wait a minute... do three of our five members have goatees?

*shifty eyes*

It's a very current look in Bread-in-Hand :)

Lonhro, I've updated you last post with a PL to you. I'll also take the time to remind everyone that your posts in the rumors threads contain potentially useful (and potentially useless) information, some of it pertaining to the castle.

I've uploaded a map that's a little rough in places (had to stitch together a few different scans and way too tired to fiddle with the details right now) of your current base of operations: Cillamar.

Also, just curious, do you folks plan to head straight to the castle in the morning or do you have anything to do in town? Supplies to buy, info to research, whatever. You can talk things out as long as you'd like or I can move things along whenever you'd like or whatever.

I'm happy to head there first thing. I'm also pretty much done at dinner, if everyone else is full :). I wouldn't mind having a poke around town to see if I can pick up anything else of interest. I was hoping to do it after the group has separated for the day.

I figure we're ready to go in the morning, but Deva brings up a good point.  We don't want to arrive at night.  Better to leave town at mid-morning, or noon, rest halfway, then arrive while it is still daylight.

Well you could always spend the next morning poking about town and then leave, take a half day's trip and then camp for the night and then take a half days trip the next day and approach the Castle just a mid day begins.

I think that's the best course of action.  I don't have anything in particular to buy or do in town.


edit: Should we compare languages spoken?
This message was last edited by the player at 15:13, Wed 31 Mar 2010.

I'm ready to move it along when everyone else is :).

Also, Lonhro can speak elven, but not much else.

Heh all,

uh there seems to be a cascading error in the last few posts of the IC thread. :
I think Mellar intended to point out Arien, the drunk at the bar. The old man sitting alone with the teak box on his table is a different fellow, though people are welcome to go talk to him as well. I'm going to edit the posts to better reflect "reality" and then add a post and then you can all carry on from there. It'd probably be best if everyone posted here in the OOC thread who they'd like to talk to or what they'd like to do before heading out to check on Whiterock and then I'll try and keep it all organized and keep us moving along.

Oh, and a note about OOC stuff in the IC thread. Several players have been using PLs to give me information or ask questions, which is fine. But unless you really want the question or action to be a secret from other players feel free to simply type OOC: and the message for me at the end of a post and color it read as I've done here.

Like I said, you're welcome to continue to use the PLs if you want to or feel its more appropriate but there's no need to keep all mechanics secret from all players all the time.

This OOC thread is also a fine place to talk about things going on in the game or ask questions or just chat.

Hello all, I've added a Calendar for the game. You might notice that 10 days before the day the game started was the Day of Souls. This is a very special holiday in Morrain. It is the summer solsitice and also was the day the first to-be King of Morrain and his friends swore to overthrow the Harbinger king who had oppressed the land. (Ancient History at this time)

It is a day for vows and challenges and decisions. A day to let your feelings be known and to draw lines in the sand. Its a different for everyone but the rule is: on this day something must happen. So, its a perfect day for a group of young travelers and adventurers to make a pact to form a new company for glory or justice or wealth or whatever else floats your boat.

So let's all assume you did that, ok? :)

Sounds like the right way to start a soon-to-be-elite adventuring group :)

Ok, kinda need a direct answer here from some people. Everyone please answer this question:

Do you want to do anything in town tonight or tomorrow morning before going to the Castle or shall I just start a new thread detailing your approach to Castle Whiterock?

I know some people have already answered this question but there has been some new info discovered in the Drake since then. Anyway, I just don't want to start at "at the castle gate's thread and have players upset cause they wanted to buy something or talk to someone" or start a "the next morning in town thread" and have it just sit there empty for two days because everyone just wants to get to the Castle.

BTW, I think I've mentioned this before but, while the Castle is the centerpiece of the campaign and I hope no one will ignore it and run away (kinda defeats the purpose) it should be noted that the town is only a day away if you need it and as the campaign progresses you may find reasons (or not) to do something elsewhere as well.

I'm ready :)

I'm sleeping but do not mind the others searching out info.

I'm ready too.

Dena is probably the most interested in the castle from us all :P So yea - ready.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:24, Fri 02 Apr 2010.

And Radoslav had already indicated a lack of any pressing issues so I'll be moving us on post haste.

Yes, sorry.  Holiday weekend with the families.

No issues from Rav.

Hey all,

just wanted to point out that the game is currently in your hands. When you all finish your talking (an important part of the game for sure) and decide to do something I'll do my part. :)

Not that I mind a slower pace; I assume that our group will find the pace which best suits it and it will probably have fast times and slow times. I just wanted to be clear that I'll be responding to you as much or more than you respond to me.

Of course, there's always the chance of random encounters popping up at surprising times too.

I kinda thought we were all waiting for you to move us down the path. I made an extra post stating that intention and no one has refuted the proposition so I figured we're waiting to be moved.

See, I'm glad I clarified things then. :)

Lonhro I assumed you were indicating that you (Lonhro) were ready to move down the path. Dena had been asked a direct question by Radoslav that I assumed would be answered in some manner before people kept moving. Also, I assume, but would prefer to be sure that the party intends to follow the path through the apparent cave/tunnel entrance.

I guess things are going to take time for us as a group to really get into a smooth flow. We are really all still getting to know each other and we've got a hopefully long game ahead of us. I'd like to suggest that people use this OOC thread as well as OOC comments in the IC threads to communicate intentions explicitly to your humble DM and amongst yourselves, just as most groups would in a table top game.

As we go along feel free to offer (polite!) ideas on how to make our game work better.

Perhaps one good system might be that anyone and everyone who thinks any particular scene is finished or at least finished for their character to drop a note here in OOC so that no one has to wonder if someone else has more coming.

Very true :)

I'm ready to go when everyone else is. I can't speak for others, but I don't mind you moving the game along at every opportunity. Rpol is a fairly slow beast, and I don't mind if you sometimes err on the side of speed to keep the game flowing :).

But that's only me :)

Just wanted to remind Mellar that Arien, the drunk from the bar, had mentioned that he originally set out for the castle around a year ago in order to join a group of monks he had heard tell were trying to reestablish themselves in the Castle Ruins because it was the ancient site of a monastery of their order.

Oh, on languages spoken, Rav speaks Common, Elven, Goblin & Halfling.

Denna, you just beat me to a post!

I did?

Wait, what? :D

I just meant, that I was in the middle of putting a post together when you posted yours. Luckily I noticed your roll in the dice log so I just waited to finish mine and didn't have to go back and re-edit mine. No problem or anything, just some friendly "table banter".

I did remember this, but thought that getting this info from Arien, might not be credible. Plus, it might be a good thing if the monk think we know nothing about them.

Ah, sorry. Just making sure. Telling lies to monks, what kind of person are you?

Lies? Who said anything about lies. I'm simply not telling eveything I know. :-)

Hi all,

Sorry you had to wait so long for the newest IC post, it looks like after almost a month or so of being back into RPoL I've figured out my general availability. I can post quite frequently in the week but weekends seem to never leave me much computer time. That doesn't mean that I'll never post on the weekend, just that you shouldn't be surprised if your humble DM is not posting then.

As far as the game goes,I just wanted to be clear again (clarity I think is very important in a PbP game): Everyone passed their sense motive checks when the monks said:

"we are members of the Order of the Dawning Sun. We seek to reclaim lost knowledge and preserve it for all the world. You know how much everyone likes a good book yourselves, as you say."

That was a lie. These monks are not above board.

Finally, I just wanted to check in with everyone in general. Is the game coming together well enough for you all? Are the little maps useful? Any problems at all?

Hey Canin :)

The maps are excellent. If one is going to have a dungeon crawl then maps are essential. Game's going fine too. Continual forward motion is all we need to make this a good game. We have a good bunch of people by the looks :)

My weekends are similar to the DM's.  Having 3 kids, and wife who works weekends, means I have almost zero time then as well. :-)

Everything's been cool, so far.  Good job on everything!

Hey all,

as usual the weekend has brought my RPoL time to a screeching halt. I had hope to get something up over the last couple days but it wasn't to be. It's 1:00am or so Monday morning my time and I've got to get to sleep but I wanted to just let everyone know that this next whole week may be quite slow. Its midterm exam time at the University I work at which means I've got about 30 hours of speaking exams to administer. These weeks are always very exhausting and unfortunately eat up most of the free time I'd other wise use for RPoL. They also make my evening times far more busy catching up with chores and family time. I hope to find time to give to my DMing here but I can't promises anything. Rest assured, these killer weeks (I know 30 hours doesn't sound like much but trust me when I say that it is an exhausting process, and when you factor in the break times necessary to not go crazy and eat and such its a very long week) only come 4 times a year so when its over I'll be in back full swing.

Unless the monks make a move, Mellar will not do much else for a few minutes.  If nothing happens after 5 mintues, he'll want to start walking away from this tent, and begin searching elsewhere.

So Canin, how's your verbal exam thing progressing :)

The exams are over, but I haven't done any of the relevant paper work yet. Also, didn't get much of a rest this weekend but after a good sleep I should be back to normal. The important thing is I got a post up and its full steam ahead.

Hey Canin :)

It's only a suggestion, but if you rolled our initiative for us it would save a few days every combat. It's not a roll we can use skill or tactics to improve, and we can't avoid making one.

Having you roll it means when we log in we are ready to start slaying, rather than posting a single roll init and waiting another few days.

Just a thought :)

That's a good idea Lonhro and I think I'll adopt it in the future.

Also, if anyone makes an attack roll please roll damage as well. That way if you hit we don't need to waste time waiting for me to tell you such. Usually after a round or two of combat I will tell you the relevant ACs so you'll know if you hit or not but if your not sure just roll damage and I'll apply it as need be.

I will say that this is going to be my first RPOL combat and combat is the one thing I've been most worried about. I think its an important part of the game and there will be some nearly unavoidable ones in this adventure and potentially lots more so we'll have to find a comfortable way to do them. Anyone with suggestions on how to make our combats smooth and still D&Dy fun speak up and we'll consider it.

I fully expect the first couple times to perhaps go a little roughly but eventually we'll come up with a group system and rhythm to it that works for us.

Best way to do it via pbp is to do the following.

1) You roll initiative for us and list everyone's initiative in order. To create an example:


Lonhro 22
Radoslav 19
Monks 17
Mellar 11
Mordred 8
Dena 3


2) Lonhro and Rado beat the monsters on initiative, so they go first. Just execute the actions in post order. That is, Lonhro and Rado have a go before anyone else but whoever posts first (out of those two) has their actions executed first. So say Rado gets in early and posts his actions an hour before mine gets posted. Then everyone else waits until you firstly process Rado's turn, then my turn (in post order), then go to step 3.

3) Once Lonhro and Rado have had their posts executed, you roll attacks, etc for the enemy, in this case, monks. You process all enemy attacks in the one go.
Just lump all of them into one initiative score. Once you have made all your attacks for the enemy, assigned damage to us, etc, then step 4.

4) EVERYBODY can now post, all five of us, because we all get a go before the monsters' next turn. You process the actions in order of post. Then rinse and repeat.....monks go, then we all go, monks go, then we all go.



Doing it this way means that initiative only affects the first round of any combat. It is still useful (as it can give you an extra round if you beat the enemy) but it becomes redundant for the rest of the combat because the rest of the battle comes down to us (in post order), then them, then us (in post order) then them. Removing initiative order (aside from seeing who beats the enemy in round 1) avoids an enormous amount of drama that can arise from not knowing what people who haven't posted are going to do (if they beat you in initiative). All someone hase to do to know what's happening prior to their turn is read the posts. When I was introduced to this method I was skeptical, but it has turned out to be a lifesaver and makes combats extremely uncomplicated.

So, to summarise:

1) Party members who beat the enemy initiative go first, in any order.
2) Enemy go next all in one go.
3) Everybody then gets a turn, in any order as actions are executed in post order.
4) Repeat until the end :)

This saves a LOT of time over 2 years, trust me :)

Part of me shakes with fear at Lonhro's idea (what! but initiative! initiative! the strategy! oh no!)

But part of me can see how it probably works pretty well for PbP D&D. So, I'd like to hear form the other player: How about trying Lonhro's sytem out?

We could switch to it for this combat pretty painlessly. If I take the average monsters initiative they'd be at about a 12 which is where Monk 4 sits.

That'd make the new (simplified) initiative order:

Mordred, Denna, Lonhro, The Monks, and then everybody.


Other things: Until (and if) Dena shows up again I'll NPC her turn for her. Mellar, sorry about your incorrect map placement I thought you were beside Lonhro out of the tent. I guess I should show you in the square between Lonhro and Dena inside the tent.

Seeing as how Dena, Radoslav and Mellar all have to deal with the tent first it doesn't really matter if they'd posted out of order for the first turn anyway. So, if we use Lonhro's system then we just need his action and then I can adjudicate Lohro, Denna and Mordred's actions, then the monks, then Radoslav and Mellar's.

At that point Dena, Mordred and Lonhro would need to post again before anything/anyone else. Then I would resolve their actions, followed by the monks. After that all the players would get to make another post and things would be rolling on fine as described by Lonhro.

How's that sound to everyone? As with anything in this game, if we try it and don't like it we can always try something different next time. And the more I look at Lonhro's suggestion vs. the overly complicated approach (from a PbP perspective) that I was originally going with the more I see the appeal.

EDIT: To keep my life somewhat simple and because traps are fun for the DM :) if we switch to Lonhro's system we'll still say the monk#2 went first and collapsed the tent but I won't give him another action until the monks as a group go for a second time.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:39, Wed 28 Apr 2010.

I like it. I use something similar to a system on a private message board for a couple of games I run there.

That's exactly what I said the first time I saw it :). But it works.

I'll get to my turn, which will involve some serious slaying!

I like the method.  It does make for a streamlined and better experience.

As an alteration, I play in a game with a large group (eight PCs) who recently fought another large group (8 unique NPCs) and we broke combat down into groups.  The top four initiatives of the PCs were Group 1, the top four of the NPCs were Group 2, lowest PCs Group 3, lowest NPCs group 4.  Group 1's average Initiative was higher than Group 2, so they went first.

Group 1 would post their actions, then the DM would resolve Group 1 & 2's actions in a post.  Then Group 3 would post their actions, the DM would resolve those and the actions of Group 4.  Rinse, repeat.  It worked out spectacularly, and helped keep what was a larger battle very organized and easy to follow.

I would suggest that if we ever get into battle with multiple significant NPCs.

Ok, I guess we're going with this system for now. So the PCs are up. Once everyone has taken an action I'll do the monks and post the rounds results and so on.

Radoslav, I was thinking somewhat along those lines too. If there are very distinct groups of baddies then we may break it down a little more than PCs vs. Enemies. But I think we'll save it only for the most important times as every division potentially slows the game down a little bit.

Lonhro, and others: Monk 1 and 4 are down from a sleep spell and 5 and 6 are down from a color spray. Monk 2 is gutted and Monk 7 has left the combat area for now. #3 is the only currently up and active opponent and he's currently getting the better of Radoslav.

So, if you (Lonhro) want to go for #4 you can Coup de Gras him if you'd like or you can move to and engage #3 who is in range of a move action.

Sorry for not making it clear who was effected by the sleep spell in the first combat round.

No prob I'll retarget to number 3 :)

Radoslav will be flanking and get the sneak attack damage so #3 is a goner. So Mellar and Mordred there will be no active monks when you choose your actions. The one down by spells are of course only down temporarily (the monks hit by color spray are unconscious for 2d4 rounds [which I rolled separately] and then stunned and blinded for 1d4 more so we are still in combat time for now).

Mellar: Are you able to see my other maps and pictures I've posted in the IC and other threads? They all are hosted at my personal smugmug photo page so they *should* all be being treated the same by whatever filters your work may be using. If not perhaps I did something different this time and I'll try to figure out what it is.

Anyone else having any problems?

Msg #45 is the last one I've got with a map in it :)

No.  Even the little images for the player blocks are blocked from me.  My work does not block a lot, but personal hosting sites are on the list. Don't fret none.

Things have gone pretty quiet....

I'm not sure who we are waiting for...

Waiting on me, my bad. Terribly sorry. Sorry, haven't been able to get into a good rhythm with my free time. I'll try and pick it up.

Damn. I just realized I had meant to make a post about something...potentially important. If you would rather not kill the baddies I don't see why you couldn't coup de grace for non-lethal damage. There helpless, so you get a free crit without a roll, so there's' no reason why you couldn't declare a non-lethal attack. I think the same rules would apply:

Critical Damage, Non-lethal. If the target does not fall unconscious they need to make a fort save of 10+damage dealt or fall unconscious.

I'm going to post the next turn as is and Mordred, if you would rather deal non lethal damage just let me know.

   With my alignment I would prefer doing that. Killing someone that is helpless does tend to be an evil act and I was quite worried it should have an effect on my alignment. I much prefer your solution. Thank you!

Doesn't matter to me, but I'd get to add non-lethal sneak attack damage!

Our paladin has not logged on, in 3 weeks, and hasn't made a post in a month.  Concerns?

I have the primary concern that I hope the person behind the paladin is ok. She seemed one of the most interested in the game from the very beginning and also seemed the type that if something made her decide she didn't like the game anymore she'd have said so before leaving.

As far as the game goes, I'd rather she were playing but the adventure calls for 4-6 players and can be scaled for more or less so the game can continue without her.

Does anyone know if its considered against the rules to send a player who has stopped logging in/posting rMail?

Nothing wrong with doing that at all. I would also send them a private message in-game. Sometimes people accidentally remove game from their sticky list, and if they have a dozen or more games going it's not always easy to pick up that one is missing.

Hey, uh...balls in your court everybody!

Sorry work and RL got in the way for a little bit.

Hey Mellar! House rule number 1:

1. You can all remove Use Rope from your skill lists.

:)

Don't worry about use rope rolls. Pretty much everyone gets to know how to tie really good knots.

Whoops, Sorry.

Any response from our paladin?  It's been a month now.

I'm afraid there's been no response to either the rMail or PM for our missing Paladin. I guess we continue to carry on without her.

Question for Lonhro, do you intend to check out the second collapsed room south of the closed doors? Or did you want to move into the room with the sleeping pallets and hornet nest? If you don't enter the room with the nest then there will be no danger of disturbing it.

Intending to steer clear of the hornet nest for the time being. Indeed, forever, unless necessity makes it so.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:26, Sat 22 May 2010.

Well there goes our diplomacy lol

Nice Max damage Lonhro, that will help.

Sorry guys. My anniversary was Friday, and I took a long weekend. :-)

Not a problem. You really can't do anything until The others and then I have posted again anyway, because of the combat situation.

Also, I have a feeling this past weekend has been an RPOL break for many people as all my games have been dead. Its a holiday weekend in the US isn't it?

Finally, congratulations on the anniversary, hope you had a nice time.

Yes. It was Memorial Day. Being a veteran, and it being my anniversary, this is somewhat of a big weekend for me. Not long, but busy.

Ok, so I know Melllar is often unavailable on the weekends (which is fine) and things could happen with others at any time, and as we can see this can sometimes cause quite a stall if we're in the middle of combat. Perhaps we should have a group agreement that after a certain amount of time (suggestions?) when in combat the the GM (I) should just step in and make a post for them to keep things going. It's less of a problem out of combat because everyone can just carry on the roleplaying and exploration regardless. Combat though is slow enough and kinda needs full participation.

I can't speak for the others, but I'm happy for you to put me in total defence or just hit something generic (your choice) whenever I can't post within a respectable amount of time. Why don't you make it a 48-hour thing? You post every 48 hours and anyone who hasn't posted in that period goes into total defense OR (at your discression) uses their sword/mace, etc. I certainly won't bark at you if you're posting for me because I'm unavailable. I also respect the possibility that my death might ensue because of something you do with me in my absence. I can live with that as well.

48 hours is a fair period for everyone to get a post in. It's not as if they are being kicked out of the game for missing one period, but it will ensure you are able to post every 2 days. The more regular it becomes, the fewer people will miss the cutoff :).

That sounds fairly reasonable to me. Let's face it, I think everyone here is aware that if you are only able to post every 5 days then this game is pretty pointless because we will never see the end of it :)

Just my two bits worth.

Yeah, I was thinking of something similar. I do want to stress that its really only combat I'm worried about here. My main concern is that this adventure, while overflowing with cool story and characters and secrets and stuff is, on the surface at least, a dungeon crawl which means plenty of combat. Which, as we all know, is always the slowest part of any kind of RPing experience.

Sounds good to me.

I'm OK with this too. Weekends are nearly impossible for me to get online. With three kids and 5 people, someone has to loose.  Since I have a fair amount of time during the week, it's usually me.  There's also so much house stuff to do, I'm usually don't have the time anyway.

Very reasonable.

A note for you others, Radoslav will drop #2 with his blow so you should all focus on #1, the guy who seems to be a real live monk.

Good work lads :)

Hey DM, will you be giving out XP after each encounter? Also, will you be giving out XP for things other than encounters, eg. the RP at the inn, etc?

I don't know about XP after each encounter but I do plan to try and give it out at least every few encounters or so. I'll be trying to total up the accumulated amount soon, hopefully today (my time anyway).

There are also XP bonuses for non combat things built into the campaign. Some are for certain accomplishments like discovering a secret or puzzling out a problem others are sort of side-quest rewards. There won't be giant red flags waving to tell you about these side quests but I might let you know about the reward for them after they've been accomplished.

As for RPing I think there will be a reward for good rping also available. The game recommends a cap of no more than 50xp per player per PC level and I'll probably try to stick to that guideline.

Addendum to above - didn't take me long to calculate actually.

Everyone has earned 675 XP so far. It should be noted that this does not include Dena who didn't really do much anyway and who it seems, given the length of absolute silence, is probably not rejoining us.

I was planning on having her leave you when you returned to Cillimar but if you'd like her to stick around as an NPC ally then I'll have to recalculate the XP for 5 party members instead of 4 and give her her fair share.

Is that 675xp each? Or between the group?

I vote we let Dena go.

That is each Lonhro. 675xp per player. Not long until we get to level 2.

Hey that's awesome. I better start giving consideration to my level-up. I thought it would be way off yet!

Yeah, Ilkenvar was CR3 and Melchin was CR2, they certainly helped your totals. I was really worried they could do some serious damage, Mellar got a little taste of it when Melchin hit him for 6 damage and Ilkenvar might have taken our loveable rouge's head off if he had rolled even halfway decent on the attack, considering he had a +6 attack bonus.

The fates, though, they were with the party. Now to the looting!

What type of sword is the MW sword Ikenvar was using?

Also, does anyone mind if I swap out the MW chain shirt for my own?

Either way, here's a list of what we found:

MW Chain shirt - Lonhro (tentative)
MW (ikenvar) sword
MW quarterstaff
MW short sword
Shortbow
20 arrows
potion

plus....

3 symbols of dawning sun
5 stenchpots
1 key

Is it okay if we sort treasure OOC so we don't have to RP it?

Also, what is a stenchpot lol

Dealing with equipment OOC is fine. I think the OOC thread should really be used to add that dimension of friendly tabletop play that is sometimes missing in PbP. In most games I play tabletop people don't really rp the division of loot so that's fine not to here too.

The sword is a longsword, sorry I forgot that.

I was wondering when someone would ask about the stenchpots. :) I think you found some earlier as well with the first crew of bad guys but no one seemed to pay them any attention.

The stenchpots are sealed clay jars or pots that have a faintly smelly odor to them. You suspect that if one were broken open it would stink to high heaven. Possibly they are some kind of thrown weapon designed to help incapacitate foes?

If anyone's got any knowledge alchemy they could perhaps learn more.

Well, there isn't much I can use.  Depending on what the potion is, of course.

Ways to identify magic items include:

Knowledge: Arcana, Detect Magic + Spellcraft (though just the Detect Magic might give you a good guess anyway), and of course Identify or Analyze Dweomer.

For potions you can also try:

Craft: Alchemy or just Spellcraft by itself.

If you were trying to identify something old or legendary or somehow associated with a well known faction or person (and you knew of the association) you could try Bardic Knowledge.

Lonhro, you're not quite sure you recognize the tattoo but something seems familiar. Perhaps if someone helped jog your memory? (i.e. maybe another player or two could try the aid another action with a Knowledge: Local roll of their own?)

Also, are either of the magic types going to take a crack at identifying the potion?

Anyone want the masterwork shortsword or swanky longsword?

Mordred, you might want to take the quarterstaff as its masterwork and an upgrade to the one you currently carry.

I revised my last post  concerning a craft alchemy attempt and the quarterstaff.

Mordred, you might not dream of a staff of head bashing but you managed to step up to the job and do a pretty good job of it none the less. Which reminds me, I've got to update the stats soon.

I can see the images today.  Not sure for how long though...

Cool. Not sure why a site like smugmug would be blocked anyway but I'm glad you can see some of them. Now quick commit everything to memory before they go away again!

And they are gone again.  Do we want to look for anoher player to take over Dena?  Or find a new player altogether?

Rav could use the masterwork short sword, although it's not entirely his style.

The stink pots are, however, entirely his style.

So we're all keen to return to town? If so, we'll take all of the booty and the prison wagon.

Ok, I'm going to need a list of what you intend to sell and what you intend to keep. Also, what are you going to do with the three dead bodies?

As far as the Dena situation goes

I think Lonhro's voted on dropping the character (and I think that means carrying on with just the four of you)

Mellar seems to be thinking about trying to get a fifth, either a replacement player or player + character (If we did that I'd probably go with whole new character its early enough it'd be easy to write someone in)

Radoslav and Mordred have yet to voice an opinion.

Also, it should be noted that if you decide to go with just the four for now it doesn't have to be a permanent choice. If you guys decide later you'd like another player to join I can always make it work.

Okay, here's what we have and I've tried to allocate as best I could work out according to both OOC and IC thread. As no one has put their hand up for the  MW longsword I will take it and throw my rapier into the 'for sale' pile.

MW Chain shirt - Lonhro
MW longsword - Lonhro
MW quarterstaff - Mordred
MW short sword - Rado
Shortbow - to be sold
20 arrows - to be sold
potion - mordred (at least until he can identify it)
3 symbols of dawning sun (i'll carry one of these in case we need to show it to somebody but they seem worthless otherwise)
5 stenchpots - Rado
1 key - Rado (hold onto it until we find a door :p)

How does that look?

also, as we are swapping out stuff, the following are likely to be sold too:

Lonhro - chain shirt
Lonhro - rapier
Rado - (maybe or maybe not a wpn replaced by the short sword)
Mordred - quarterstaff.

All good?

Looks fine to me. Three things though:

1) Its your party fellas but I'd suggest giving Mellar perhaps a better share of the coins and sale than the others as in this particular haul there's not much to be had for him.

2) The first prisoners had some gear too.

3) Mordred's quarterstaff (as well as all the other non-MW quarterstaffs are worth nothing and therefor can't really be sold.)

My mistake, I didn't go that far past the battle.  So were there six monks with chains shirts?

Regarding money, that sounds fine to me :). I certainly don't want any gold from the haul or subsequent sales.

If we can get a new fifth, we're headed back to town now, anyways.  Either way, I don't think having Dena as a NPC party member will really benefit us.  I would, however, like to see her stay in town as a familiar face.

Ok, I placed an ad looking for a fifth player.

In a little while (today sometime) I'll get you all moved back to town and your goods offloaded and such. (unless you're attacked on the way)

Radolsav, I think I can come up with a way to keep Dena around town. And heck, if we ever find out what happened to her maybe she'll be able to rejoin. It was an interesting character and she seemed like a good player.

One note about XP, I'll give the new player the same XP as I've already stated you'd earned which will put you slightly ahead of where you should be for a 5 player group but that's ok, it won't be enough to matter.

Mellar would not overly worry about getting an even division of funds. However, he would insist upon a 'party fund' to pay for things like inns, food, and miscellaneous. (Tolls, travel fees, bribes..I mean gifts.  Yeah, gifts.)

Well, in the end there should be plenty of swank for everyone anyways. From a meta-game perspective its usually a good idea to try and keep things somewhat balanced but like I said, its really all about how the party decides to do things.

Can I suggest, then, that Mellar take control of the 'party fund'? You would be responsible for simply carrying it, keeping count and paying people money out of it :)

If you're happy to do that it can start when we get some cash from all this gear. I'm not suggesting that everything go into it. We can divvy up the gold and people can take their share, but anyone who is happy to can lodge it or a portion of it) with Mellar for party use.

I find having some sort of 'party fund' usually means better purchasing of gear for the team anyway. I don't mind if I'm not the one getting it :)

Having a party fund does help. Then we get get some basics like food, ect. out of the fund.Who knows there may even be a reward for these slaver-monks.

I'm OK with managing the fund.  Mellar would be too.  In past games I've played in, the 'party fund' either received a full share, or a half-share, or simply anything that did not split evenly.  (9 gold found among 5 party members. Each member gets 1, while the fund gets 4.)

Which way should we run it?

I'd say use a full share for now - later when bigger funds come in we could even reduce it. But for now one share looks like it would build a good party fund.

So I thought as we're currently trying to get a fifth player that we might as well RP through this, your first return to Cillamar. To that end, a new thread has been started.

As for the loot I went back and checked myself and compiled a more complete list:

15 Stenchpots
9 fake symbols of the Dawning Sun
57 gold
9 pp
6 Chainshirts 300gold
A MW Chainshirt
Studded Leather 12gold
Ikenvar's Sword
MW Shortsword
MW Quarterstaff
Shortbow 15 gold
20 arrows
potion
key
14 light riding horses 525

The numbers after the entries are what you can expect to earn for selling these items. I'd like to keep to the rules suggested system of simply selling at half price for now.

So, once everything has been sold you'll be looking at 909gold and 9 platinum.
For simplicities sake we can call that an even 1000gp total. This assumes you sell the horses, shortbow, and regular armor but keep everything else. I'm afraid the arrows are going to be bought by anyone, so I guess they're pretty useless.

I think we should each keep a light riding horse. It would be a lot easier to get back and forth to the dungeon. Also are we keeping the wagon or selling it?

Oh I didn't think about the *two* wagons.

A better question: If you want to keep a wagon will you get rid of the cages and manacles?

If you do keep a horse each and a wagon (which should have two horses for it) then you'll only be selling half the horses.

A riding horse a piece would be good, and a wagon.  Manacles/cage... depends on if we think we might capture someone/thing that will need to be brought back.  Might not be a bad idea...

BTW, how much to the stinkpots weigh?  And does their stink stack?  =D

Hey yeah, a horse each and a wagon. It soulnds like a plan.

I am agreeable to that plan. However, I think we should ditch the cages and manacles.  It does not look right to be travelling with them.

Sorry to be slow guys, kinda had a terrible couple of days with some things in the old personal life going a little crazy. Nothing to make me drop the game or anything, just kept me out of an RPOL frame of mind for a couple days. I've added our new player though and hopefully she'll be ready to run into you all very soon.

Hope it works out for you. Thanks for letting us know :)

Hey everyone! I'm the newcomer :D The game looks like lots of fun and I look forward to joining in.

Welcome Ealga :)

Glad to have you!

Greetings!

Could Dena stay behind to deliver our testimony?  Her word as a Paladin.  ;D

Excellent suggestion Radoslav.

In an effort to maintain momentum, is there any chance we can avoid having to roleplay selling the loot? I understand that sometimes NPC interaction is necessary, but if it's not in this instance it will save a couple of weeks to just OOC-sell the horses, gear, manacles and cages.

Well Lonhro, the city, as far as I'm concerned, could either be a complete auto-pilot backdrop or an entire extra layer of the game, depending on what you folks wish to make of it. For now, if you wish, you can just say what you sell, what you'd like to try to pick up (if anything) and if there's nothing special anyone wants to do then we can move right back to the castle. If you want, we can even gloss over the meeting of our new player: You spend the night at the Slumbering Drake again and there talk a bit about your adventure and meet the Barbarian lady who would like to join you. Seeing as you guys could use the muscle you all say 'cool' and the next morning away you go.

So, everyone just clarify for me a final time what you're keeping, I'll give you the value of everything else and let me know if there's any shopping you'd like to do. We'll move on quickly. If anyone does have anything they want to explore about the town that's ok too.

  Right now I just was to get my spells back... :-)

Thanks for your frankness, Caninrock. I'm personally happy to gloss a little over the town interaction at this early juncture, thinking that down that track we will probably be returning here so often with a swag full of booty we'll get to know the inhabitants.

Happy (my vote-wise) to gloss over everything you mentioned and have it summarised OOC, including new player introduction :) Let's get him/her in and let's get back to the business of conquering the ruins ;)

P.S. We may have purchases to make after we sell the goods. I don't personally want anything, but we may have enough money to buy something of use for somebody :)

Sorry for the slowness folks. Especially considering we were going with the trying to go faster option. Good news is that I'm done giving exams and am now basically on vacation for a couple months. I've got paperwork and grading to do this week but my schedule is mostly my own (although family will still take the lion's share of course). So I should be back to full speed.

As for your profits (and correct me if anything is wrong here):

Selling:

9 Horses for 338gp
7 Chainshirts for 350gp
Studded Leather for 12gp
Shortbow for 15 gp
Wagon for 18gp
rapier for 10gp
plus 57gp and 9pp

for a grand total of: 800gp and 9pp

Also, don't forget that people taking or selling equipment should alter there character sheets accordingly. The above totals assume that you are also selling Lonhro's chainshirt and rapier.

Split the gold according to your desires and just drop a note in here OOC about anything you want to buy. Standard equipment should be no problem, if you can afford it nicer stuff might be available too, just ask. Anything really fancy (and this goes for the future too) might need to be made to order or found and either way take some time.

In the interests of getting back to speed I'll simultaneously start the new IC thread and you can all do your shopping OOC while exploring IC. Do the shopping quickly though so that when the IC gets to a place where your purchases might matter they will have already been finalized.

Any problems just let me know.

Hey DM, is it possible to buy potions of Cure Light Wounds from town?

133 gold per person, with 1 platinum. Party kitty gets 135 gold and 4 platinum.  If we can convert the platinum into gold, then everyone gets 15 more gold, or 148 gold, with the kitty getting 150.

Probably a little hard to convert the platinum to gold straight up. Also, it'd be ok for large purchases but I wouldn't suggest dropping a platinum for your 5cp cup of ale to get change.

There is a potion seller who sometimes operates out of the Slumbering Drake. He's not from Cillimar but, oh what's this, he happens to at the Slumbering Drake your night in town. His cleric based potions are a little pricier than normal but he does have some.

Here's his inventory the night you're in town (it may be different in the future) oh, and his name is Quintus.

POTION                PRICE  #   NOTES
Cure light wounds      75 gp 3   Caster level: 3
Cure moderate wounds  450 gp 2   Caster level: 5
Magic weapon           50 gp 5   oil
Jump                   50 gp 6
Delay poison          400 gp 1
Blur                  300 gp 2
Mage armor             50 gp 4
Barkskin              800 gp 1   +3
Invisibility          300 gp 4
Keen edge             750 gp 2   oil
Water breathing       750 gp 2
Resist energy (fire)  700 gp 2   20 hp of fire damage
Bull’s strength       300 gp 2

This message was last edited by the GM at 04:21, Tue 22 June 2010.

Lonhro is going to buy a potion of Cure Light Wounds for 75gp. I suppose I'll hang onto the rest but if anyone needs money for something I'm usually happy to contribute :)

Ya know, with 800gp and 9pp, everyone could get 148gp and the kitty could get 9pp and 60gp... just sayin'.

Rav would buy a Potion o' CLW, too.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:42, Mon 21 June 2010.

I'll gladly take as much platinum as I can get instead of gold. I'm not that strong and would rather have the platinum.

I've updated the potions list a couple posts up to reflect that two CLWs have been bought. Anyone else wanting any potions this go around?

Also, when Lonhro and Radoslav purchase their potions from Quintus he mentions that he'd be interested in purchasing any potions you find at either half price (standard rules) or in trade in value for other potions. If you elect to trade he'll give you 75% of the regular price. He could also identify potions without much hassle, being a potion making master himself. He'd charge a nominal fee for that service of say, 10gp, which he'll wave if you decide to sell or trade the potion to him after its identified.

Oh, and not that it matters to most of you nearly so much as Mordred I thought I'd point out that the calendar has been updated.

Actually, that works just fine!

Mellar will pick up a CLW potion.

Mellar's comment about naming animals made me recall this.
http://www.pvponline.com/2010/05/20/equines-of-moria/

sorry guys. people on vacation. going to be really slow for the next 3 days.  down to a staff of 3 people from a normal 6.

Ok, thanks for letting us know.

one more day of crazy. hope to be back to normal tomorrow.

OK. Back to normal now.

I will also take this time to tell y'all now, that I am going on vacation in just 45 measly days.  (Not that I'm counting or anything...)

I will be departing on August 21, and not returning until late on August 30th.

I'll be going to Disney World.  Talk about repeating our honeymoon trip got my wife interested in taking the kids down there.  Turns out they are having a promotion for 40% off a package that includes a deluxe hotel, dining plan, and park tickets.  If interested in more details, PM me.

Got a deal on hotel in Atlantic city this weekend.  See y'all Monday!

Glad to have you back Mellar but as for the IC: Lonhro is fine (for now). Mordred, on the other hand, is dieing. Would you like to be as brave to save someone who isn't your brother? :)

Sorry. Totally read that wrong.  I corrected my post. :-)

It seems important so I thought I'd give an update on the action this round:

Mellar will be hit, and almost critted for 8 damage - that was really really scary when I popped up a 20 on the AoO.

He's not taken out though which means he does get his heal spell off on Mordred which will bring Mordred back to 5hp (he was at -3 this round). So Mordred, you can take actions this round, which is good.

Lonhro's attack will hit, the beasts AC is 13 so that will do some solid damage even with its DR.

Ok, Mordred, Ealga, Radoslav - do something great before I have a TPK on my hands!

I can't believe this but Radoslav has successfully tripped the large and strong owlbear skeleton.

So for Ealga's attack it will be prone. It's very late here so I'll give Ealga until tomorrow morning when I wake up and get to my RPOLing to post an action and if not I'll act for her again.

I figured it was a long shot... perhaps I should invest in some Luck feats for him... =D

A problem seems to be that Ealga The Bear was last on Thursday 8 July and she has not posted since Wed 30 June. Could you npc her attack?

My thoughts are we should boot her immediately. We were obviously duped by her. The delay has gone paast ridiculous and is now into the offensive zone.

Rpol games are too fragile to hang onto utter non-posters in the hope they right themselves. They almost never do.

I tend to agree. We needed a combat character, but if they don't post we get ripped apart on encounters where we need them.

Feelings seem pretty strong on this and its basically the way I was going to go anyway seeing as I've given two PM notices and got nothing. The last logon is not so much the problem (by my time standards it was a Friday and the possibility of weekend + after weekend RL issues could easily explain that) as the long time since actually posting despite logging in. I prefer players to get involved.

I didn't NPC her when I last posted because it was 2:00am my time and I wasn't up for doing any more posts anyway so I figured I'd make it a last chance kind of situation.

About last round: I forgot the owlbear's actual attack! It lashed out at Ealga but missed.

Seriously guys, keep Mordred alive! Between his spells and that wicked staff of he has certainly dealt with more than his fair share of the baddies!

And I'm not sure you guys need another tank with your seriously beefy bard in the mix!

Oh, and Mordred - you picked up a Masterwork Quarterstaff didn't you? Don't forget that adds +1 to your attack rolls.

GM EDIT: Moved this to the OOC instead of IC for Mordred.

You are right. I forgot to add it in. It is so strange having a Wizard with a strength bonus!

Ok folks,

I sent an rMail to Ealga's player and removed them from the game. I've also finally removed Dena's player from the game too. Strangely enough Dena has actually been logging in a few times over the last week but has continued to ignore PMs and rMails, including offers to come back or even just be moved to lurker if they no longer have the time to play but want to keep up with the game. That frankly annoys me so anyway, they're both gone. We are again back to just 4, and a currently NPCed bruiser.

I'd like to suggest that if you again want to try for another player that we offer one of these characters to the player who wanted to take over Dena the first go around. I suggest this because that person is playing in another game of mine (the pathfinder one I started at the same time as this for the extra players who wanted in to the Whiterock game) and is also GMing there own games or is GMing at least one game here that I'm playing in myself. The person isn't a blazing fast poster or anything but I'd put them in the category most of this group seems to be: steady and reliable. Likely to be fast and frequent at times and slightly slower at others but unlikely to disappear on us as the last two fifths have.

Another option, if the group remains against a take over (and hey, I understand, not a big fan myself), if I could make a character for this player, with input from you guys on what you'd like to see in your party's fifth.

Or we could go back to one of the other replacement candidates and see if they're still interested, though at this point I'm finding myself in less faith in adding unknown elements to what is, I think, a very nice group.

Sorry to be long winded, GM necessity  sometimes.

Oh, and let's not let this slow us down. You've just won a very scary combat that almost killed at least your mage and cleric!

I just want someone good at stand up fighting. My robes are just not plate armor when it comes to swords and claws. Whatever works for you is fine for me. We have a good group we just need it filled out!

A key problem with rpol are the folks as players and GM who just stop posting. It gets very annoying and leaves the other players stuck waiting for them. In the last 4 months I was in 5 games where the GMs just disappeared - sometimes popping in again and again and never posting. I've also been in several games that just stopped because players disappeared and can't be bothered to give the GM a note that they are leaving - which is rude.

BTW, that fight nets you another 120XP, which brings you to 795xp, actually to give you some extra hope I'll top you up with your RP bonus for this level so that gives you 845XP total.

I should point out that the RP bonus is for good roleplay and is above and beyond the the xp you get for dealing with things like traps, non-combat encouters and challenges, and completing various story and side-quest objectives or events.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:56, Thu 15 July 2010.

What xp did we get for the first fight with the Monks - I must have missed it?

In msg 174 on page 8 I gave out XP for all the events up to that point. It was 675xp, I don't blame you for missing it there was a bunch of stuff happening at the time.

So that plus the owlbear skeleton plus the RP bonus brings you up to 845xp, you're almost to the next level.

I definitely missed it! Thank you!

I am flattered you think me beefy, but my beef won't really scale up that much as I level up unless I steer away from my current bard build and pick up some fighter (a chance I suppose). I would still therefore like to see a biffer in play. I don't mind what you want to go with, DM. If you think your friend is reliable and will post consistently (which for this group I think means within 48 hours of a DM post), then by all means add him in. I don't mind if he picks up Dena, but I would check with him and ask him what he prefers. I'm not fussed on picking up existing characters myself and maybe he, too, would prefer to start a new character. My only request is that it be a frontliner (which Dena is already) :).

Looking forward to this next level!

:)

L

Just to clarify, this person (who I think is a lady) is not a friend of mine outside of RPOL so I can only vouch for what I've seen in the other games. But the game she runs seems steady enough and she's pretty reliable as a player in the Kingmaker game.

She sounds good to me!

I rerolled your search for you Lonhro, came up bad.

Just wanted to remind players about the options for take 10 and, if you want to spend the time, take 20.

I just got out of a meeting with my boss.  They are closing the site down where I work. The deadline is as of now, January 1, 2011.  It's generally regarded as an unresonable deadline, and is expected to be extended to July 1, of 2011.   (The company has leases on most of the buildings through the end of June 2011.)

However, my boss is proceeding from the position that some or all of us may need to be in new positions by year's end. He believes that while the employees may be out by year's end, our IT company, which has 2 years left on a 3 year contract, may be here to close the doors.  But not all of us will be needed for that.

If they officially close in June, the site firm will only have defaulted on 10 months of the last year of the contract.  Which they may just settle, rather than pay rents on the buildings for another year.

Anyway, what my boss wants is for us to concentrate on training, getting certified on as many things as we can.  Which means little to no goofing off anymore.    I'm going to have to quit this game, and several others I am in on this board.

I'm sorry, but that's how things have to be for now.  I have to focus on my certifications.  Sorry guys.  I don't have the time at home, and now my job skills need to take priority over the next 5 months.

Matt

Wow, that's terrible news for us (you're a great addition to the game) more so for yourself of course. But obviously this is just a game and you've got a family to take care of. Being employed certainly helps with that. I'll just say, I hope things work out for you. Also, if 5 or 6 months down the road you are able to pick up some hobby time again drop me an rMail and hopefully we can work something out. Also, you certainly don't have to use it but I'll switch you to lurker access so if you ever feel like a quick pop-in to see how things are going or just to say hi, well you'll have that option at least.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As for those of us left behind, this certainly puts a serious crimp in our game. I was going to offer the bruiser spot to my other player/gm but obviously now we need a whole other character. I mean, four is certainly fine to continue the game but I assume you'd like a cleric around. Of course, healing potions and wands can certainly help fill some of the gap but divine magic does more than that and turning undead can be nice too.

One thing off the top of my head is I could go to the same well for water twice and offer another player from the Kingmaker game (who originally wanted in to this game) a spot. There are 4 active players in that game but one of them is an off-line friend who I ran through the Whiterock campaign in our table-top group, so he can't join. Of the other three there is the one I was already going to ask and then the other two. They both seem like nice enough people, I just figure I'd offer this spot to the more frequent poster first.

We could go the advertisement route or back to some of the previous applicants but my thought is that going for the known qualities first best ensures getting a good player for the game.

Mellar, good luck with all that. Hopefully fortune will favour a return to online gaming for you down the track as it's obviously a fun thing for you.

DM, I suggest we try your method of recruiting from your other game where people have a reasonable track record to date. If the initial person that is joining will be a frontliner, then the next person you recruit will have to be the cleric pretty much.

Given that we have the need for two new people to come into the group it might be an opportunity to allow them both to roll up new characters (rather than take one over) and they can join us at the same time without having to go back to town? Just a thought, as we need to make a big change and it may as well be all at once to prevent the game bogging down. They could be rolling up whiile we continue on.

I'll definitely deus ex machine gun (as a friend of mine would say) them into the game no matter what method of character creation we go with, I'll give them the situation and the options and let them decide how (and if!) they want to proceed. The way I figure it Dena and Ealga are both up for grabs (though only one of them!) if either player wants either one. As for the cleric type well, I'd prefer input from Mellar, if possible, and Lonhro - how would either of you feel about someone else playing Mellar (and Lonhro's brother)? Dena and Ealga have not been good to us and their characters are ours to do with what we will as far as I'm concerned. Mellar the player though has been nothing but respectful to us so I wouldn't want to do anything with Mellar the character that he'd rather we didn't.

I'm not even sure that either person would want either any of the characters (though I suspect the one might like to take over Dena as they had mentioned that before). But I'd just like to know what options I should present them.

Anyway, in the interests of expediency Mellar will join Ealga on auto-pilot for now, I'll start the recruitment drive and the remaining party members can continue their explorations.

I'm happy for someone to take over Mellar if they understand that we get on well! lol

Wow Mellar good luck! You will be missed!

At this point you might as well let the two new characters create new characters if they will fit spots that will make the group well rounded. As for the party it might be best for the current party to return to town until the two new players are set up.

I've left the option of what the two new players do, take over or make new ones, entirely up to them. If you, Radoslav and Lonhro wish to explore right now that's totally cool. I don't want to see the game have to slow down because of this. I assume I'll have an answer from my two prospects within 24hrs or less so hopefully the transition can be quick. In the event they *want* a takeover of either character who is with you then they can jump right in. If they make new characters then its easy to say that one or two other people came wandering up to the ruins, or perhaps, hearing of your first exploits some down on their luck adventures come out to ask if they may join you, or perhaps Dena, worrying about her former companions in her absence, has been keeping an eye out for potential candidates and sent some along OR, well there are other options too...*insert knowing DM smile and devious eye twinkle*

With no healer and no main warrior - exploring may get us killed...

I'll make sure to use Ealga and Mellar to the best of their ability to get involved. The remaining three can feel free to make suggestions on what you'd like them to do OOC as well. Now that they are going to be officially NPCs for the time being I can also have them do things whenever I/we would like. Before I was sort of forced to wait until the end of every combat round in hopes the actual player would get involved.

Speaking of what we want them to do, Ealga too some damage in that fight, should we have Mellar heal her or hoard the healing power for now.

Better heal her up, particularly if someone else will possibly be playing her.

We'd look pretty silly letting her die before they got here ;)

Yes, I wasn't holding back in that last combat. Thought I might get her at the end but failed to roll high enough to hit by one.

Would be an awkward PM. Yeah, uh...that character I offered you? Kinda got squished. Care to look at the rest of our selection?

currently ealga is at 5 of 12hp.

5 is far too low - she needs healing or will not take one hit

Says someone in the know. :)

Just remembered, Mellar also took a big hit and is at 2/10 hp

He has one more 1st level spell he can burn and 3 O-level spells. Can clerics burn domain spells for healing? I'm the one who is supposed to know that...

If he is healing they can.

Spontaneous Casting: A good cleric (or a neutral cleric of a
good deity) can channel stored spell energy into healing spells that
the cleric did not prepare ahead of time. The cleric can “lose” any
prepared spell that is not a domain spell in order to cast any cure
spell of the same spell level or lower (a cure spell is any spell with
“cure” in its name). For example, a good cleric who has prepared
command (a 1st-level spell) may lose command in order to cast cure
light wounds (also a 1st-level spell). Clerics of good deities can cast
cure spells in this way because they are especially proficient at it.

Dang, he has the travel and plant domains. So he has spells to burn to give 1 cure light and 3 cure minor. Some people bought CLW potions right?

Also, everyone say hi to our new player. "New 1" prefers to take over an existing character but isn't picky and is going to let our other potential joiner from the Kingmaker game pick first, if that's the road he wants to go down.

Welcome New 1 -- Glad to have you joining our fine company!

Cheers new 1 :)

Maybe we could go outside the complex and rest, rather than going all the way back to town?

Hi all

I'm looking to take over one of the existing chars, just need to read through all the stuff until now :)

Seems like New 2 is in as well, so they just need to sort out their characters. As for going back to town, or leaving the castle to camp somewhere near or continuing exploration, that's all up for you players to decide amongst yourself. I just wanted to let you know I won't leave you hung out to dry just because some the the PCs players have left us.

It just occurred to me that if this works one way that it could always work the other too.

The Pathfinder: Kingmaker game that New 1 and New 2 are joining us from likewise has lost their fifth player, a two-weapon ranger. The rest of that party is a summoner, a druid, a bard, and an oracle so as you can see they too really need a fighter. So, I just thought I'd throw this out here, if any of you would like in on a Pathfinder Adventure Path game just let me know. I can't really choose between the three of you so it'll just have to be a first person to ask for the spot gets it situation.

BTW, just in case it was missed before in all the confusion with people being kicked out, having to leave and newly joining, I wanted to again take a chance to remind player of the options to take 10 and take 20. You can also use these options for rolls you've already failed (or think you have) that allow rechecks. Taking 20 in particular assumes you are trying many times over and over again. Just remember that a Take 20 requires a much longer commitment of time and isn't an automatic success if something is just beyond your ability (20s and 1s not being automatic successes or failures for skill checks). Just pointing this out because I find many players tend to completely forget these options. Don't forget there are also options for aid another (which I might sometimes do for you in a obvious situation so we don't have to wait on it) and just because one person fails at a task doesn't mean someone else can't try (unless its a one shot only situation).

Hey folks, New 2 here.  I'll likely be taking over Ealga.  Haven't seen any of her previous posts yet...

Ok, New 1 and 2 have made their choices and seeing as they've decided to take over Mellar and Ealga respectively there won't be any need for DM hand-wavery. Not that that would have been a problem at all.

Right now for the transition I've assigned Mellar and Ealga to their new players but kept the New 1 and New 2 personas until they're fully settled in. Those "characters should disappear in a day or so. I've moved Mellar's old character to a character called Temporary which I'll either be renaming or removing and putting him on lurker status.

Ok, so our new folks have a little be of a feeling out process to do but they can participate and do that at the same time so -> game on!

I don't have much more time right now but I'll have more to say to Ealga and the new Mellar when I'm back (nothing you have to worry about feel free to post!). Also, just wanted to say that my weekend and overall access is much greater right now as I have almost no work until September (ah, the life of the University Teacher in Korea) so if you're around feel free to post, I'll probably get to things sooner than you're used to (which you may or may not have already started to notice).

Just trying to get a feel for where we are.  The Gm had mentioned giving both the other new player and I a summary post of whats happened so far.  I'll get an IC post dropped in today.

Our party came to this ruin seeking adventure earlier and were confronted by slavers dressed as monks. We defeated them, captured wagons and horses, returning to town we sold our loot and turned our prisoners in to the authorities.

We just returned and began exploring again when we ran into a giant skeleton, that almost killed us. But we won again. Now we are just going to the stable, where our horses and wagon are  and resting. We used up our healing after the skeleton fight. I think that is where we are.

Well crap, I posted this morning, but it doesn't seem to have gone through.  Lost in the ether of the internet I suppose.

Sorry, intended to get to that summary but got more distracted by stuff than I expected.

Also part of the story was that the party, before setting out for the Castle where they had decided to start their adventuring career together, met a drunk (whom some had heard of before) named Arien who claimed to have been kidnapped by slavers and ended up in the hands of orcs somewhere under the castle. He had been going to try and join the order of monks who had moved into the castle recently (now about a year ago) but was captured before he ever got there.

As usual, I have little time on weekends so I didn't get too far in reading yet.

Now that Ealga has finished her very profitable demolishing of the half-orc's bedroom shall I fast forward through your camping and to the next morning? (assuming nothing jumps you in the night)

Anything anyone needs to do during the rest time?

I'm good to go.

Here's that summary I promised. Figured I'd put it here for our new and old players alike. It may not be a perfect record of every important detail but I tried for it to be.

In the Inn of The Slumbering Drake

* The party came to Cillamar, a sort of boom-town of possibility for fame and fortune, by various routes meeting on the road and agreeing to work together to explore the nearby ruins of Castle Whiterock, a very old site about which many rumors swirled.

* They met Lady Chauntessa, proprieter of the Slumbering Drake and supposed ex-adventuring sorceress herself. She offered to pay for any all all books or similar things from the ruins and area of Whiterock.

*They also met Arien, the town drunk, and heard his tale of slavers and orcs, who supposedly had white skin and gray hair in a most un-orclike fashion.

At the Castle

*At the Castle’s “front door” the party were met by representatives of the monks who had been reported to be living in and searching the Castle for about a year.

*Some party members quickly realized that these “monks” were but putting on a show and became wary of the situation.

*The monks claimed to be of the Order of the Dawning Sun, a group dedicated to the preservation of knowledge and were at the Castle because it was the site of an ancient monastery of their order.

*After some standoffish discussion the greeting monks went to get their leader but actually came back with some more men and attempted to ambush and capture the party. Some party members did spend some time caught in a net trap but eventually the party managed to win out against 6  of the “monks” who fought more like simple brigands than monks. Interestingly enough the enemy made use of non-lethal damage in the battle. Several of the monks lived through the fight, having been incapacitated by Mordred’s magic.

*After the fight the party searched for means of binding the prisoners and discovered in the stables the evidence of what the “monks” truly were. After finding wagons fitted with cages and manacles it became apparent that they had actually found a nest of slavers.

*At about this time Mordred also made the discovery that the strange white-stone walls that gave this place their names were infused with a magical aura.

*Further exploration brought the party into conflict with Ikenvar, the half-orc apparent leader of the slavers, a slaver lackey and Melchin, an apparent true monk – though likely not a member of the Order of the Dawning Sun

*After this battle the party discovered that all the slavers, though not the monk, had a large, full-back, tattoo of two bloody and manacled hands. Also, Mellar made the realization that all of the symbols of the Dawning Sun carried by the “monks” were in fact fakes.

*At this time the party decided to bring their loot and prisoners back to Cillamar to get a good rest and to get rid of the living slavers in their custody.

Interlude 1: Return To Cillamar

*Upon returning to Cillamar the party turned the prisoners over to the captain of the Gate of Sorrows (at the time) and he identified them, via there tattoo, as probably the last remnants of the Iron Manacle, a vile cult of slavers.

*Dena, the parties Paladin, decided that she needed to stay in town for some personal reasons, and promised to give testimony at the slavers trial, thus freeing the party to return to the Castle after a good nights rest.

*Loot was offloaded and the party met another frequent patron of the Slumbering Drake: Quintus, the old traveling potion salesman.

*The party also met a barbarian by the name of Ealga who, upon hearing their tale of the battle with slavers and in need of something to do here in “civilization” asked to join the party on their return to the Castle and was accepted.

Return to Whiterock

*Upon returning to the castle the party discovers that the “front door” was left open. Someone had come or gone or come and gone and left the door open since the party had left themselves.

*After stabling their horses the party first went to explore the room that their last opponents had come from. Inside the found a simple but comfortably appointed bedroom/study with another door in it that apparently entered the bottom of one of the two towers still standing at Whiterock.

*While claiming an everburning torch Radoslav discovered a secret passageway leading out of the room. Exploring it the party found another room within the caldera wall. Apparently it once (and could again) connected to the main hallway of the inner complex but a roof collapse had blocked the way.

*In the room the party disturbed and had to do battle with a giant owlbear skeleton. The fight was nearly the last for Mordred and Mellar (and possibly the others as well) but the party was victorious in the end and managed to avoid the loss of any of their number.

*After the fight the adventurers felt a rest was in order and in the process of gathering fire supplies from Ikenvar’s room Eagle the Bear managed to find both a scroll with a magic spell on it and pouch with some money and gems. Settling in for a restful afternoon and night (hopefully) the party could only wonder, what would they find tomorrow?

A fast forward is fine with me.

Seeing as how there seems to be so much hidden loot I must ask:  How thoroughly did you guys search the areas you've explored so far?
Have those unfortunate enough to have fallen in battle been looted?

If the boots of the dead are in decent enough condition Ealga will take them and consider them part of the collected loot.  What can I say?  She appreciates decent leather work.  And those with bare feet are often willing to pay handsomely for a good pair of boots.  Plus, she's a woman, and women love shoes :)
This message was last edited by the player at 22:49, Tue 20 July 2010.

I haven't gone back and checked the posts specifically (they're not that far back in the current thread) but the party hasn't actually expolored or searched most areas. They've been stuck trying to deal with enemies. There was some cursory examination of the desk that failed to find the scroll but that's about it. I think they were planning more but got distracted by the secret door and then by the almost dieing.

The bodies of both the dead and the prisoners were thoroughly looted. I don't think there are any boots left around as either they'd still be on the feet of prisoners back in Cillamar or on the bodies of the few who were killed and I have presumed buried. I presume this because the party intended on returning to the castle so I don't think they wanted to leave bodies around to start rotting away and attacking vermin, scavengers and disease.

I admire your courage, Mordred, but you take a big risk running in in cloth in front of the better armoured people :)

He's probably lucky he missed. Now it'll keep on concentrating on its first target. Also, Mordred looking at the two first level spells you've got memorized - you could definitely target a 10ft burst in such a way as the sleep spell only effected the creature (especially as its large) by simply targeting it behind the beast. Similarly, I'm sure you could target a 15ft cone to avoid harming your friends as the only one engaged with it at this point is Eagle. However, you would know that unless something really extraordinary is going on neither of your spells would effect the creature because it is a vermin and thus almost assuredly mind-less. So, you're in the same boat anyway.

Uhoh Mordred. :)

That's another stupendous hit for the wizard with the stout oak but I hope for your sake someone hits the Mantis harder than you do! Otherwise the big nasty might have you for lunch.

I'm going to be a nice GM and point out that after you whack it something fierce you have the option to take a 5 foot step backwards and out of reach (as Eagle is still right in front of it). You aren't on difficult terrain yet (the mantis is right at the very front of the tower) and it doesn't have reach (which, if I haven't pointed out yet, you and Mellar would both know anyway because you totally rocked out the knowledge nature checks I rolled for you.

Thank you I take the option to step back... Having a strength bonus is going to get me killed...

Connection issues due to a fire (not in our house) and house hunting cause me to be away from the computer a lot but I'm not gone.

The connection only works some time, and while we have a business line, as we are not really a business, we are at the end of their line to be restored to full service, and thanks to summer time they only have a few workers, supposedly. On the bright side, we get a refund.

As I'm not always home when the line works well enough to connect to RpoL (or most forums) I will likely not be able to get up more a post or two per day over all the games I play in and run. No idea how long this lasts.

So does that mean this game will be in a rotation of your other games for getting a post?

Why would you join another game when this stuff is going on with your available time for Rpol?

I think this is a new problem Lonhro, due to the fire.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:32, Tue 27 July 2010.

Oh and everyone its about 8:30am my time, just checking in before work. I'll update in about 4 hours or so from now.

Heh everyone,

I know sometimes things happen but as we are in combat (and anything called a "Dungeon Crawl Classic" is going to have at least its fair share of sword and quarterstaff swinging) it really is important to try and keep things going.

It can be a little frustrating to see people checking in but not posting. There are really two basic reasons I was thinking this might be happening (let me know if its something else that we can work on):

1) The player is very busy and really can only just check in, perhaps in an inconvenient way, like on a phone.

2) Players might be preferring to wait to see what happens with other players first for tactical reasons given the first in first out nature of a combat round as we're doing things.

In case its the second I'd like to offer the option for *some* conditional orders. I don't want people going crazy but if, for example you're the cleric and you're worried about someone getting dropped on an AoO then you could post saying you'll attack BLAHBLAH at the end of the players turn if no one has been dropped, otherwise you'll heal the dropped person.

I'm just making that example up off the top of my head and typing quickly so hopefully you get what I'm going for. I shuold probably remind you all that readied actions are also still acceptable. As per normal D&D rules you can choose to ready an action based on some kind of trigger event. If the trigger occurs then you do you action.

If its the first problem, well I understand but I also don't want the game being dragged to a standstill and potentially damaged in the process. Combat is a particularly sensitive time for a PbP game. So, I think I'm going to enact a rule whereby if a certain amount of time has passed and people haven't posted combat actions then I'll just have to step in. Unfortunately, combat requires everyone's regular participation or the whole game freezes. Perhaps a double rule: after x amount of time without logging in the GM will do an action for you when in combat or waiting on something only your character can do (like check for or disable traps); the GM will also move things along a shorter x amount of time after a player logs in without posting.

Thoughts?

Fine with me. I try to post as quickly as I can. If something comes up and I'm needed post for me.

That sounds fine to me too :). You could say you'll update combat say 48 hours after your previous post, and anyone who hasn't posted in that time will have their action decided and enacted by you. 48 hours is more than enough time for anyone to post, and it limits how much time everyone else will be waiting for slow posters.

If you find you are consistently posting for someone in particular, then you can look at other solutions.

Just a suggestion :)

Sounds good to me

Ok, as we know that Mellar is having connection problems I'll step in for him when I get back from work if he hasn't posted. I'd do it now but then I'd be late for work. Should be roughly 7 hours or so from now. Sorry it couldn't be sooner.

Hey, hey guys...guess what?

I said killing the Mantis was worth 180 each right? Well you already had 845 so...welcome to 1025Xp total and LEVEL 2!!!!

Awesome! Just a query on hit points, are we rolling from here on in, or max, or something other? I thought there was mention of this somewhere at the beginning of the game but I can't seem to find any refernce to it.

Uh, I'm not sure, nor can I find either, what I may have said about HPs in the beginning. Usually my table top group goes with roll and reroll if its under half. That obviously ensures that everyone gets better than average HPs but I don't see that as too much of a problem.

So, unless someone's got some strong complaints against that system its what I propose. Roll for your HP but you keep rolling until you get half your max possible roll or better.

So anyone going for the early multiclass?

Also, as soon as you've adjusted your characters to the new level you can jump right back in to the IC thread no need to wait.

Just in case Mordred was being literal instead of figurative wanted to remind you all that Radoslav has that everburning torch found in the now trashed half-orc's bedroom.

Nah, I didn't have a clue lol

I wondered why you kept saying it seemd to be better than I thought. It didn't occur to me that it might be magical lol

Dopey me :)

LOL, yeah you've actually hit a couple times just because of that +1 and you've being doing an extra point of damage every time you hit.

That actually makes me pretty happy. I like magic items being special things you discover much more than simply handed out with a full instruction manual. Sort of an older school approach I guess.

Okay, does anyone have designs on any of this gear (listed below for your convenience :p).

Chainmail
Greatsword
Backpack
50ft of rope
Dagger
Studded Leather
MW silver longsword
longbow
30 arrows
Potion: pass without trace
Potion: healing type
Potion: transmutation type

DM, given some of this is unlikely to be claimed, do you see any merit in creating a treasure thread, where we can list those items not claimed that will be sold when we reach town again? It would expedite treasure sell-up when we do.

Hey, I don't mind making another thread as long as you guys don't mind the clutter. :)

Such a thread would certainly have merit. One note though, if no one takes something to at least carry it then it stays were you find it or tell me you bring it to. I do want everyone to keep track of weight carried and stuff. So if you do take stuff or otherwise alter your equipment lists please make sure you mention it and actually alter the lists on your character sheets.

Okay, so if you make up the thread, we can make a list of everything in the party pile, and next to each item who is carrying it. Whenever it gets changed, we can cut and paste the list into the next post in the thread with whatever updates we need to make included :)

Sound good? :)

I'll risk the transmutation potion, and carry the rope.

Ealga, are you strong enough to carry osme extra stuff with me? If so, I think we can probably take all of it with us, at least until we find a safer spot to place it.

If/when DM creates the thread, I'll remove the trans potion and rope, and put my name to as much as I can reasonably carry, and then we can see what's left.

Our wagon is right up the stairs, out the tower and across to the stable. We could haul the trunk up and fill in and leave it on the wagon. Once we get to town we should get chains and locks to fix it to the wagon and lock it closed.

With a strength of 15 I should.  I don't appear to be carrying anything other than 3 weapons and some hide armor.  She likely left the iron pot at last night's firepit near the stables.  I'll take the backpack as well then, to more easily carry more items.  Fill'er up.

Sorry, busy work and computer problems.

Ok, I made the Loot List as an open notice thread. This was a good idea Lonhro because even I'm getting confused and the Loot List should help keep things straight.

Things I'm no longer sure about:

Who, if anyone is carrying any stenchpots and how many? What have you done with them otherwise? (The weren't on the sold list earlier in this OOC thread)

Who, if anyone took the MW Chainshirt from the first looting?

Did you guys ever figure out that potion from the first go round? Who has it?

And then there's all the new stuff to decide about, most of it remains unallocated.

Any other problems/questions?

Rav took the stenchpots.

Lonhro grabbed the MW chain short last time :)

I'll be adding my name to a number of these items in the loot list to carry until we reach town (or a wagon).

Ealga has grabbed the transmutation potion :)

Once items have been claimed as possessions by someone it probably makes sense to remove them from the treasure list so as to avoid confusion. When I mentioned putting our name beside items I was thinking more of the stuff that, for instance, Lonhro will be carrying but not wanting to keep (just so you know who has it and has adjusted their encumberance to carry it :p).

In a perfect world that would probably be good Lonhro and I'll probably modify the initial system into something else but I worry about my memory sometimes. If I had forgotten you'd taken the sword you'd have missed out on it being a magic weapon.

Like the potion from the first fight I'm still not sure what the end result of that was. Gotta go back and read carefully to figure it out now...

Oh, and Eagle's suggestion of stashing the look in the secret passage is probably a good one.

Mordred - are you coup de graceing with the original death laced flavor or our new, lower-karmic calories non-lethal version?

Not that I'll punish you for killing them, I mean, they're orc slavers and you're outnumbered! But I just wanted to be clear on your intentions this time.

Also, as you said your spell lasts longer now - 20 rounds to be exact. I've yet to see a combat ever go that long, but having four big strong orcs at your back would probably be a bad thing.

    They are orc slavers and we got rid of the cages, chains and manacles. With just a few fighter types we need to get rid of them. I just can't see how we can control them to bring them back to town without major risks of one or more of us getting killed. So he he going for kills.

Figured but just thought I'd check

You could throw them in their own slave pits, but killing eliminates the worry of them coming back to haunt us.

Unexpected business trip.  I'll be back sometime this weekend.  Sorry for the late notice.

So should I wait for the moves/results of Lonhro and Mellar before posting my own?  I finally got a decent attack roll!  Someone is going down!

Sorry, should have done Mellar's attack with the last post. Its done now. #5 is dead. Ealga you don't have to wait for Lonhro, just don't kill the one in front of him.

Sorry I wasn't able to update earlier today, my internet went all wonky and I was checking in on my phone. No problem now though, some technical upgrades at the ISP or something I guess.

Thought I should mention that Mellar had not been hurt quite as bad as I thought. I mean, in D&D terms anyway. He did take a big hit and went from full to dieing in one go but he wasn't as deep into the negatives as I had thought.

On a related note it has now been a long time since the new Mellar had made any appearances anywhere I know of so I'm going to ask around to some people I know in other games who play with the player in yet other games to figure out what the general consensus is. I'm starting to think that the position of 5th player is just cursed though.

It would be nice if we could get a player for him, as he is my brother :)

But if no decent candidates are forthcoming, then I don't mind parking him in town.

There are quite a few slaves, and they have weapons and armour they can use, so I was wondering.......is anyone interested in asking Hugin to come along with us for added muscle?

Honestly - I think the Mellar position needs a player. It's so important to the group it should be a player. If folks wanted to add Hugin if he was given to a player character I'd have no problem. We just need folks who will post and act in game.

Very true, I agree with that :)

Yeah, I sort of decided awhile ago that I'd give the new Mellar until the 1 month mark (normally I wouldn't give so long but the player was a known active RPOLer as both GM and player across many games and not just the ones I was involved in). I assume as we rapidly approach that date that I'll be player hunting very soon.

As for Hugin he will accompany you if you like. He would also be willing to guard slaves for now and accompany you afterwards. While Hugin could certainly be turned into a PC he could also just as easily follow you for awhile as an NPC. (And as a true NPC I'd probably be far more active with him than I am with PCs on autopilot).

So at this point do we want to continue on, with Hugin coming along for muscle, and Caninrok in a couple of days will find a new mellar?

What kind of shape is Hugin in?  I still think we should leave him with the slaves.  Why share xp?  ;)

Hugin is banged up and currently at 3/12 hp.

Okay then, he can stay behind and guard lol

Just a reminder that you were told the portcullises are controlled from the room through the north door and that crossing the narrow cells walls/tops is tricky but possible. Not that dealing with the dogs and their master first isn't a fine plan.

Was about to do the updated but I've run out of time here so it'll have to wait until later. Also, I'm feeling a little fuzzy brained right now (too little sleep and way too much heat/humidity) so if anyone sees this before I get back could you remind me about the party lighting situation. I have this nagging feeling I've forgotten to give it due consideration as the orcs, being darkvisioned, don't bother with lighting in a lot of places.

Sorry I've been a little spacey this week folks. Just getting back into a "full" working semester so having to get used to teaching at 8am, being at work (with a terrible computer) for most of the morning and afternoon, and having to sleep at reasonable hours. Its not a problem I've just got to get readjusted and back into a groove.

As promised I went seeking a Mellar replacement and have received a lot of responses so I've just got to filter those and make a choice.

Having comp problems. Can't connect to Internet.  Using itouch to do this much

Hope things clear up quickly there Ealga.

As for me I should be back to near daily updates now.  I can't progress the IC thread until I get home but I'm going to go put the finally touches on the Mellar situation right now.

I can do short posts via iPod, it just takes forever

Radoslav is now two weeks without a logon so I'm officially thinking about whether or not we need a replacement.

I'll cover him for now for combat to move forward. I just noticed something though about Eagla's post. Eagla you can't five foot step back because Mordred is right behind you. You could move back into the room but you'd be leaving Mordred and Lonhro on the front line for this round. If you can get back quickly on what you want I'll let you choose, when I check back later though I'll move the game on assuming you move back to the closest legal spot if I don't hear otherwise.

We have a new Mellar by the way! So that's something at least.

In reply to Caninrok (msg #352):

Consider it part of his held action, taking a 5 foot step as soon as the spot behind him opens.

Ah, forgot to mention Mellar - we aren't using any fumble rules.

And Mordred, nice to see you continuing your streak of dishing out the damage with that quarterstaff.

Very sad actually - my armor is cloth and my damage is drawing far too much attention to me..

 Hola amigos, looks like i drew the lucky straw to take command of Radoslav.
First and formost if he owes anyone money i (the new owner) take no claim for the amount. ;) LOL.

 Ok, looked over the sheet some, anyone feel up to giving me the cliff notes what everyone is involved in.?

Here is my original recap for the last new player (hi Ealga!) so I figured this would be good for our new Mellar and Radoslav.

---

Here's that summary I promised. Figured I'd put it here for our new and old players alike. It may not be a perfect record of every important detail but I tried for it to be.

In the Inn of The Slumbering Drake

* The party came to Cillamar, a sort of boom-town of possibility for fame and fortune, by various routes meeting on the road and agreeing to work together to explore the nearby ruins of Castle Whiterock, a very old site about which many rumors swirled.

* They met Lady Chauntessa, proprieter of the Slumbering Drake and supposed ex-adventuring sorceress herself. She offered to pay for any all all books or similar things from the ruins and area of Whiterock.

*They also met Arien, the town drunk, and heard his tale of slavers and orcs, who supposedly had white skin and gray hair in a most un-orclike fashion.

At the Castle

*At the Castle’s “front door” the party were met by representatives of the monks who had been reported to be living in and searching the Castle for about a year.

*Some party members quickly realized that these “monks” were but putting on a show and became wary of the situation.

*The monks claimed to be of the Order of the Dawning Sun, a group dedicated to the preservation of knowledge and were at the Castle because it was the site of an ancient monastery of their order.

*After some standoffish discussion the greeting monks went to get their leader but actually came back with some more men and attempted to ambush and capture the party. Some party members did spend some time caught in a net trap but eventually the party managed to win out against 6  of the “monks” who fought more like simple brigands than monks. Interestingly enough the enemy made use of non-lethal damage in the battle. Several of the monks lived through the fight, having been incapacitated by Mordred’s magic.

*After the fight the party searched for means of binding the prisoners and discovered in the stables the evidence of what the “monks” truly were. After finding wagons fitted with cages and manacles it became apparent that they had actually found a nest of slavers.

*At about this time Mordred also made the discovery that the strange white-stone walls that gave this place their names were infused with a magical aura.

*Further exploration brought the party into conflict with Ikenvar, the half-orc apparent leader of the slavers, a slaver lackey and Melchin, an apparent true monk – though likely not a member of the Order of the Dawning Sun

*After this battle the party discovered that all the slavers, though not the monk, had a large, full-back, tattoo of two bloody and manacled hands. Also, Mellar made the realization that all of the symbols of the Dawning Sun carried by the “monks” were in fact fakes.

*At this time the party decided to bring their loot and prisoners back to Cillamar to get a good rest and to get rid of the living slavers in their custody.

Interlude 1: Return To Cillamar

*Upon returning to Cillamar the party turned the prisoners over to the captain of the Gate of Sorrows (at the time) and he identified them, via there tattoo, as probably the last remnants of the Iron Manacle, a vile cult of slavers.

*Dena, the parties Paladin, decided that she needed to stay in town for some personal reasons, and promised to give testimony at the slavers trial, thus freeing the party to return to the Castle after a good nights rest.

*Loot was offloaded and the party met another frequent patron of the Slumbering Drake: Quintus, the old traveling potion salesman.

*The party also met a barbarian by the name of Ealga who, upon hearing their tale of the battle with slavers and in need of something to do here in “civilization” asked to join the party on their return to the Castle and was accepted.

Return to Whiterock

*Upon returning to the castle the party discovers that the “front door” was left open. Someone had come or gone or come and gone and left the door open since the party had left themselves.

*After stabling their horses the party first went to explore the room that their last opponents had come from. Inside the found a simple but comfortably appointed bedroom/study with another door in it that apparently entered the bottom of one of the two towers still standing at Whiterock.

*While claiming an everburning torch Radoslav discovered a secret passageway leading out of the room. Exploring it the party found another room within the caldera wall. Apparently it once (and could again) connected to the main hallway of the inner complex but a roof collapse had blocked the way.

*In the room the party disturbed and had to do battle with a giant owlbear skeleton. The fight was nearly the last for Mordred and Mellar (and possibly the others as well) but the party was victorious in the end and managed to avoid the loss of any of their number.

*After the fight the adventurers felt a rest was in order and in the process of gathering fire supplies from Ikenvar’s room Eagle the Bear managed to find both a scroll with a magic spell on it and pouch with some money and gems. Settling in for a restful afternoon and night (hopefully) the party could only wonder, what would they find tomorrow?

---

Since then the party has fought a big preying mantis and found a way down to a lower level through the collapsed tower that was its nest. There they've found an establishment of orcs keeping slaves. They killed some of the orcs and freed the slaves and are now progressing through the rest of the orcs and hoping to free the other slaves they have been told are down here working on some mining operation.

BTW, I am sorely disappointed I didn't get to use the Trollhound's crushing jaws special ability. :) Damn you efficient players! Damn you hateful RPOL diceroller! Also, think I'd better calculate some XP soon before I lose track...

So triple post from me here. Just wanted to mention that if the main game menu is looking a little different I've just been cleaning things up a bit around here.

Just to be clear the bow has a +2str pull but is not a +2 Composite Longbow.

There are still 2 thunderstones someone may want to carry.

Also, Lonhro has the new unidentified potion. There is still the original unidentified potion floating around in someone's pack. Finally there is a potion of cure light wounds and a potion of pass without trace hanging out somewhere.

If someone could claim these it'd make my life easier. Also, I'd like everyone to take a look at the updated loot list, make sure their personal equipment lists are updated and then tell me so and I'll adjust the loot list as Lonhro suggested a while back to only contain the things the party intends on selling and not keeping.

Lonhro also has the key as well as that potion :)

What is the difference between the bows you mentioned?