Due to the timing of various adventures, it'll have been about a week for Narthian, Sir Aberlayne, Volsh, Bruenor, Haazheel, and Dellas, while only a day or so for Lantamori, Farian, and Averdante.

What will likely happen is that we'll finish up Lantamori's adventure here soon, presume that the rest of those who stayed in town will be able to occupy themselves with item creation (Averdante), religious duties (Farian), and perhaps some small jobs or other activities (Lantamori) and we will otherwise convene in the Adventurer's Guildhall when the travelers return, on the cusp of Selbian Dross' trial.

Let me know what people want to do - if those who stayed have anything else they'd like to do in the next few days, let me know.

Farian will also spend some time on item creation. She will donate her current silvered heavy mace to Pelor's temple, buy a masterwork heavy mace, and enchant it to +1 (glowing - of course). I imagine it as a flanged mace, with a hollow space in the head where the warm glowing orb of light resides. It should cost 1312 gp and 52 xp and take about a day.

She can spend a second day acquiring a master work heavy steel (bronze?) shield and enhance it to +1. This should cost 670 gp and 27 xp. I say bronze, because the Greek hoplon just seems to fit Farian's style sense. Of course the bronze side will be polished until it shines like the sun.

Awesome visuals Farian :)

She's a shining example for us all.    :)

Bruenor will start roaming around weapon and magic shops, looking for healing and protective magic to help him be more self sufficient

Once we return, Dellas will have to tell everyone about the skeletons and such at the Enclave

Aw shucks. It all started from the image selected by my predecessor. The golden light and bronze tones inspired me.

Oh wow. Going to take a bit to try and catch up. Seems a bunch has happened since our return. Any idea what we want to do next? Are we just waiting for the Full Moon to see if the trip to the Enclave worked?

I think Lantamori has a couple of dangling threads to close up in their side adventure story line then we need to decide next steps.

We've been offered a job of continuing to hunt the threads of Averdante/Farian's smuggling ring bust-up

There is a Grig that needs to be told in the strongest langauge to leave a poor dryad alone.

And the full moon is now in 4 days so Volsh needs to be back to the Ruby Conclave before then.

The Grig is a Diplomacy mission, someone with a knack for practical jokes / clever tricks would be good. Narthian (and Narthian's player) are rubbish at both.

The smuggler hook will probably be a full party thing, I'm guessing.

Volsh's werewolfery will take a few of us, just in case he loses control and needs to be put down.

*clings to wall. shrieks incoherently.*  Posting will resume after full shrieking has occurred, probably in a couple of days. Thank you for your patience. :)

Okay. Can we just assume Dellas has been either studying or working on magic items? And then what ever the party chooses he will join in on. He'd like to go with Volsh again, that was interesting. Besides he has more skeleton's to poke... LOL

I'm puttering around town, so I'm available for whatever you folks are up to.

Sorry I haven't gotten a reply up. End of month at work compounded by the holiday and school closures.

I expect to get one in the pipeline tonight though!

What kind of magic items? I'd be willing to commission an Efficient Quiver or a Handy Haversack if you don't have something specific in mind for yourself.

Oof, that took me long enough to get up. Sorry all.

Looking forward to getting to my first change and moving on with whatever's next for our company!

Ditto, and I'm still a bit lagged... holidays and car troubles ate up a whole lot of time and energy.

Haazheel is around and works on reading and writing with Volsh as he wishes.

Nonsense! There is nothing that Pelor's pure light can't warm! :p

BTW... I can enchant weapons and armor. Possibly for less then a merchant. ... Of course, you'd have to give a pretty convincing argument for me to enchant a weapon that doesn't glow with a warm golden light. ... I might make it blue, I suppose... ;)

Also, thanks for the recap, Averdante. I had forgotten about the fortune telling! I don't suppose you shared it with the rest of us yet. That's too bad about the car trouble. I sometimes wonder what's the larger money suck, cars or kids?

^ those ;P

LOL Not having any 2-footed kids, I'd have to go cars! But it wasn't anything exotic, just replacing a clutch. After 253K, I suppose it's entitled....

Having Farian enchant a blade could be interesting. I'm not used to that being something done in D&D.

And yeah, he'll tell everyone about the fortune, given if he's with them, the danger will spill out over them, too -- and it was pretty clear he wouldn't survive the threat solo! He'd just wait until everyone was back together again, so he only has to say it once.

I love it that we have two magic crafters in the party. I learned to play 3.5 from the Temple of Elemental Evil CRPG. Having a cleric that can craft weapons and armor was almost a Must Have™ in that game. Especially since a few of the found items were bugged. They'd identify and work as +1, but once you selected the item for crafting, you'd find that they had a +3! Select that, hit the craft button, and bingo! A +3 item for no extra cost.

Miscellaneous Items crafting, of course, lead to a lot of Gauntlets of Giant Strength or Gloves of Dexterity. To Hit and / or AC bonuses for everyone!

One thing that I usually did in that game that I didn't here was give my divine caster the Scribe Scroll feat. A cleric with a pocket full of Cure {type} Wounds or a druid with a handful of Produce Flame or {animal's} {ability} scrolls always came in handy at the lower levels.

I can create scrolls and Craft Wondrous items provided I have the coin, xp and spells to create said item.

So if you want something along those lines. It is something we could do. You may perhaps have to purchase the appropriate spells for me and provide me with funds to inscribe them along with paying for the Materials. Not quiet sure how to recoup the XP costs as of yet and be reasonable to a party member.

To recoup XP, we could always do Side Quests^tm for the casters, which might be more in the intellectual realms of quests than hack-and-slash. Or I could take a small leaf from Pathfinder and dispense with that part of the creation costs so no one lags behind.

What say you all?

I'm good either way.  Whatever makes the casters' and dm's lives easier

Personally I like the XP for item creation mechanic and was sad to see it go away in PF and later editions of the game. There is just something evocative to me about a caster who thinks an item is worth investing a portion of their "spark" or whatever into the crafting that is lost without XP for crafting. Also... you can't have villains sucking out people's souls to fuel crafting if there is no XP costs! ;)

That said, I'm not a caster in the group, so I don't really have a dog in the fight. I'm open to whatever the group as a whole wants to do.

Would you retain XP costs on crafting for items that have spells that use XP as fuel (there are only 14 total spells in the 3.5 PHB that require it)? Or you could do what PF did as well, take any XP requirements and turn them into a diamond or other valuable component that is 5 gp x XP value of the 3.5 spells, so the cost is there it just comes from a different pool.


There is also a mechanic in 3.5 where XP costs can be shared or borne by the person commissioning the item. Up to 5 people can share the XP cost on an item. It's from PHB2.

I've quoted it in a PL to the GM below so as not the clutter the thread for everyone else. Let me know if you want me to add you to the PL to see the rules.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 22:57, Fri 06 Dec 2019.

I've used XP transfer in 3.5 games past as well - the wizard gets their new scrolls/potions/rings for themselves, and the fighter gets their new magic sword, and everyone splits all the costs equally.  i.e. the fighter has to be there aiding in some of the rituals to help enchant his sword so the wizard can put the fighter's own spirit into it.  That way the wizard isn't stuck behind a desk, so to speak, for a week while the fighter goes off to drink at the tavern. ;)

Which reminds me, everyone take 4000XP for various things done!

I like the XP loss mechanic as well as it does create a sense of investment into the items. And keeps PC's and NPC's just creating what ever they want when they want.

That puts me to 7th. Theres an error in the RPOL code the new messages are not displaying correctly for me at all.

In reply to Dellas Nump (msg # 29):

You can try to re-log. It might be a cookie issue.

Puts me to 7th as well. I'd presume everyone...?

EDIT: GM do you want us to go ahead level up?
This message was last edited by the player at 18:53, Fri 06 Dec 2019.

In reply to Volsh son of Vor (msg # 30):

Yeah it's the only sight I'm having an odd viewing issue. Soon as I reply to a message though it looks normal. And it's not all messages just the new ones for the day.

Still doing it even after cleared cookies. And it's only this particular thread.

I think that the formatting issue is in Volsh's private line to the DM. Volsh or the DM could edit it to fix it.

As for XP cost for creating, I'm mostly a fan. In one of my campaigns, I did away with the Craft Magic feats and replaced it with Incantations. The more powerful the item, the higher the incantation's DC, and the more dire the repercussions for failure. It made the players think twice before creating powerful artifacts.

Thank the gods for the Part II OOC thread. I had my XP all wrong. Per message #716 in that thread, our last award put us at 17,000. The new 4,000 gives us ... (counts on Thunder's individual hairs) ... 21,000! Level 7 for those who didn't / can't craft!

I think I fixed it. There were a few "[1]" in the text that was messing with the PL code. Should be private to just DM and I now, sorry for that!

Yup, level up y'all!

@Volsh: ;) Twenty-one years working as a programmer. I've seen that type of "bug" before.

Since I crafted, I don't mind waiting for 72 more XP.

Hey guys, sorry I've been a little more quiet as of late.  We're having some stuff done at the house which involves a lot of elaborate set up, and then I can't sleep there during the day while work is being done.  If work is less busy I might be able to steal some time there at night and update, but if not I expect the next time I'll get is Thursday evening/Friday morning.

Take your time, my friend
   Real Life comes first

Absolutely ^^

Hope everything at your house goes well!

This will be the longest stretch of Final Jeopardy music playing in my head ever.

Do do do do do do do
do do do do DO! do-do-do-do-do
do do do do do do do
DO! do-do dupe       dupe       dupe       dupe
bong bong

Did we ever finish figuring out these items and/or value:



Magical Items:

• Jeweled Dagger
• Clear Spindle Gem
• Red Potion -- False Life
• Winged Key

Nonmagical Items:

• - Key - Iron with Skull
• - Dozen Onyx Gems
• - Spellbook: Dancing Lights, Ghost Sound, Disrupt Undead, Cause Fear, Ray of Enfeeblement, Detect Secret Doors, Protection from good, Command Undead, false life, ghoul touch, scare, blindness/deafness, spectral hand, gentle repose, halt undead, ray of exhaustion, vampiric touch, animate dead, fear, enervation, bestow curse.
• - Spellbook: Additionally contains notes on various sites and thoughts on necromancy.

I don't remember having that done. Can we sell the onyx to pay for the identification if needed?

I could use some more money to pay off some of my commissioned items!

In reply to Volsh son of Vor (msg # 43):

Honestly I'm not even sure how much money we should have. I can determine since I've joined we should have 1259 GP and 30 PP.

But yes we need to look at finishing that.

Are we ready to head out as a single party? BTW, where and why?

Should be ready to head out to the Ruby Conclave/Old Rue tomorrow, and then back to the city for aiding with the smuggler problem after that.  Full moon is in about a week, so you have about 3-4 days to deal with the grig issues, should it take that long.

This message was deleted by the player at 09:44, Mon 16 Dec 2019.

So for our little side things where the larger group splits up, are we as a company sharing wealth and treasure gained from those things?

I don't care, I just want to know what the group had decided on that as I'm newer to my character.

The dagger that Farian is claiming IC is from the necromancer that we killed on the quest for the Ruby Conclave with Bruenor, Dellas, Haazheel, & Volsh.

I don't want to be disruptive at all, I'm seriously just trying to find out how this group is doing things historically, etc.

In reply to Volsh son of Vor (msg # 48):

honestly we haven't really worked that out in much detail I don't think. Up to this point I don't think any split group things have been happening.

IMO
Group pays off any debts.
Group buys goods and/or services that will most benefit the party.
Each owns a share of the remaining treasure and can claim it or let it stay (or the group can invest if opportunity offers(.

I'm good with sharing wealth for side projects

I love it, Volsh! You make valid points that I was well aware of when I posted, but this makes for fun role play, IMHO. I'll answer IC, but for a fuller explanation...

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Normally, Farian would lay no claim to any of the Cave Treasure. However, she recently had some very clear messages from her god, at least in her own mind, including two VERY clear Auguries and two lessons in jumping to onclusions regarding the undead. She knows now without any doubt that she is Pelor's instrument. In fact, the two lessons on the undead are precisely because of this dagger. Again, in her own mind, at least. Our DM may well have other ideas. I literally can't tell what our DM is planting, and what is pure chance, which is the way I like it. It gives me so many wrong roads to turn down. :D

This dagger is potentially sacrireligious, and very likely a danger in the wrong hands. Farian's hands are the Right Hands™. ;)

---

LOL spoken like a true zealot ;)

As a reminder, here is the list of items Haazheel has on offer.

Acid, 2
Antitoxin, 3
Burn Salve, 1
Elf Hazel, 1 [heals scars]
Garlic Charm, 1
Gash Glue, 2 [stabilizes wounds]
Healing Salve, 2
Sunrod, 4
Tanglefoot Bag, 3
Tindertwig, 4


Narthian will take a Tanglefoot Bag, an Antitoxin, a Garlic Charm, and an Acid. THe numbers above reflect what remains after Narthian's "grab".

Volsh will take an Antitoxin, Healing Salve, Sunrod, Tanglefoot bag, & tindertwig. Numbers below reflect my take as well.

Acid, 2
Antitoxin, 2
Burn Salve, 1
Elf Hazel, 1 [heals scars]
Garlic Charm, 1
Gash Glue, 2 [stabilizes wounds]
Healing Salve, 1
Sunrod, 3
Tanglefoot Bag, 2
Tindertwig, 3

A most lovely Christmas and holiday season to you all!  Christmas activities kicked me in the butt, but I should be back now!

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 56):

I'm just now getting back to the boards after a rough holiday season. Glad to be back and posting now though. :)

Hopefully not too rough. The holiday season can be such a roller coaster.

Narthian, snare has a casting time of three rounds, just FYI.

Crap. I knew I forgot something. I'll take the 3 rounds.

@Lantamori: I chatted with our DM and got permission to retcon one of the Far Speech Stones into your possession if you want it. Averdante and I each have a matched pair or the magical walkie-talkies.

I'll pass on the far speech stone.

Cool.

I'm sure the GM will clarify, but it sounds as though the group caught in the traps is still 30 minutes out from camp and I don't think Demon is quite that fast.

Yes indeed, Bruenor, Demon and Lantamori are still a half-hour away, so you won't see or hear Demon yet.  :)

Sorry. It's the busiest month of the year for me with end of quarter and year. Means i gotta finish up books, payroll and send out 1099s and w2s along with quarterly and annual reports.

So where are we at the moment so I can get a post up for Dellas.

We went to help out Old Rue with a grig who's been tormenting his lady-love, a dryad named Stellana.  Most of the group went to Stellana's grove, initially met Stumpkin, Volsh yelled at him and he ran off.  The group followed, and a few got caught in some simple snares, to several giggles.  It seems Stumpkin may have help.

Meanwhile, Lantamori is at a temporary campsite about an hour away from the grove, and seems to have messed with, and then someone tried to harass the horses, leading Demon to snap his lead and run away.

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 68):

ty

Is Farian addressing the Pixies at site 1 or the Grig in the plugged tree hole at site 2 30 minutes away?

In reply to Lantamori (msg # 70):

Pretty sure Farian is still back with the main crew of grigs near or closer to the grove.

Volsh has it. I'm in Stellana's grove. :)

FYI. I will be out of town Thursday-Sunday this week.

Sorry, not dead, having crunch of several things.  Will un-accordion myself very soon!

Yay!

Be sure to polka once for us!

Ah, Real Life™. Where would we be without it?

Love the art work, Volsh. Really brings home our DM's analogy. :D

In reply to Narthian Goldleaf (msg # 77):

I try :)

Since it's been a while, can we get a "time till full moon" check DM?

I think Volsh and Narthian at least are going from helping Old Rue to the Ruby Conclave where Volsh will undergo his first transformation with the help of those Jasdian clerics and Narthian.

I believe it's just a couple days to the full moon, so you'll be able to get there by this evening, if you want to leave right away, or midmorning if you want to stay the night.

Everyone has six goodberries, which will last a week. Each one heals one hit point, and while each one also is the equivalent of food and water for one day, they won't overstuff you if you eat more than one.

I'm going to say that while he's practicing the meditations and techniques that he was taught, Volsh is only eating the goodberries for his sustenance once a day.

Ugh. Somehow I missed the part where we could try again the next night if things don't go well the first time. My bad!

Volsh, I leave it up to you to respond to Farian's hasty words.

I don't recall, is this a Will save type scenario, or Constitution based? I was thinking about preparing either Owl's Wisdom or Bear's Endurance to help out.

It's a skill check based on Wisdom, which Farian is already going to cast owl's wisdom to bolster a magic item Volsh picked up.

There are a bunch of non-core but still, WotC spells that help with skills, but I don't know if any are available to this group/game.

If either Haazheel or Dellas have Heroism or if Narthian or others have it as well that would give a +2 morale bonus to skill checks. It is a Sor/Wiz spell I think.

I know Narthian had planned originally to do the Owl's Wisdom. Owl's Wisdom and Heroism are the biggest boosts probably.

Narthian could always have prepared and cast Guidance right before (1 min duration or until discharged). It would give me a +1 competence bonus to the check!

@Farian - I'll let some more other posts happen before I reply, but I will reply :)
This message was last edited by the player at 22:01, Wed 11 Mar 2020.

You read my mind, I have Guidance and then a bunch of spells to ensure you don't go anywhere.

It's 100 gold per page, and (say) a third-level spell takes up three pages?

It is a 3rd level spell, so 3 pages, yes.

But wow-wee!! I had totally forgotten that 3.5 was 100gp per page to scribe a new spell.

Pathfinder is variable by spell level. So a 3rd level spell is 90 gp total, not per page. The only time you get close to the same cost for 3.5 and PF 1e then is at 9th level spells. 900 gp  (3.5) vs. 810 gp (PF 1e).

You'd have to get GM's approval to retcon having bought it though I'd think.

Sorry for delay in responses. Tax season though should slow down after next monday.

I hope people are doing as well as they are able in these trying times.  I'm simultaneously doing too much and too little - suddenly we have to train a bunch of new people at work (so I no longer have the time to post here from work), but then they have decided to cut some of our hours too.  I'm in the Critical Infrastructure category, but I don't know how long that will last, given as no one is making stuff from the metal we're selling right now. I feel like I'm sprinting on a hamster wheel - all this effort into doing stuff that isn't amounting to much.  :(

I hope to update on the weekend!

Thumbs up here. On the upside, I no longer have an excuse for not completing the basement remodel. On the downside, I no longer have an excuse for not completing the basement remodel.

:D

I'm heading to work but having some quality quarantine time on my weekends

It's the best and worst of both worlds.

Finally! I'm able to post again! RPoL did not want to accept my new password on this computer.

I work at a high school, so I've been off work (technically, "on call" for my normal hours) since the second week of March. I'm using the time to work on my home, being tech support and not a teacher. I did get called in for a few hours; after having to give an administrator my password -- which necessitated changing another 20-30 passwords (basically, for any site account I've ever had, or might have ever had, for any site I might have visited in the 20-some odd years I've worked there) -- they still couldn't do what they were trying to do without me.

The whole password thing was massively distressful -- like giving strangers access to your bank account and trusting them not to screw you over distressful. Plus then having to completely rework the way I create my passwords so I can remember them, because basically, the old "code" has been exposed and is no longer safe.

And then this Thursday, I discover they've gone and changed my personal password -- so I can no longer log in to my work email to check for the latest staff information and updates. Pretty much what I knew that was going to happen, because people (administrators especially) just can't leave things alone. }:(

At least it's spring, so the weather is lovely right now, and I have more than enough work at home to keep me busy.

I'm doing well here. Trying to manage two adults needing to work, two kids needing attention and direction constantly.

Other than that though holding up pretty well.

So is the Sister going to let Volsh run with the Narthain/Thunder pack? :)

Well, Wal-Mart had toilet paper this weekend, so I won't complain. ;)

We are level 7 right? Or did I miss something?

In reply to Dellas Nump (msg # 97):

Yes, level 7

I missed the level increase as well.  I'll adjust

Hope everyone is safe and sound, (selfishly especially the DM!) :)

I'll agree with that sentiment


Personally, I'm okay so far.  "The Plague" is in my area, so I'm being careful

It's rapidly growing in my area too. My county has the highest number of confirmed cases in Iowa. My wife and I are fortunate that we each have jobs that allow us to continue to work from home. I feel for those who are now out of work, as well as for those who are sick.

Ok, I'm back!  This wretched situation is not playing nicely with my stress levels and mental health, so I am a little more limited in how much creative energy I can output at a time. Which is very unfair, as I have this extra free time and I want to spend it writing/gaming but end up watching shows I've already watched or reading books I've already read.

You're not alone. I'm no expert, I have only the anecdotal 52 years of experience earned from making as many wrong choices as right ones in Life™. Mental health can be tricky. What works for me is to first make a list of what I can control and what I can't. Then I focus on only those things that I can control, and I fall back to my days as a paramedic and make dark jokes at the things I can't control. Laughter is an amazing coping mechanism. ... And sometimes I indulge in shows that I've seen too many times and books that I've read too many times. ... And eating too much chocolate.

:D

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 103):

Glad to have you back!  I know the stress of these times has sapped me y creativity as well

Haazheel wants t osuggest adding an owl to the pennon. I think others have a companion/familiar?

Dellas mentioned wanting a loaf of bread in the pennon, as I recall. There might be things that we can add into the details of the border embroidery. The main symbolism is: the 8 leaf blades of the Sword Lily representing the 8 members of the Leafblade Company and the golden flower representing 1 purpose. Whether that purpose is literal gold, knowledge, glory, or The Shining One, is up to personal interpretation.

However, the embroidery in the border can have an owl, a loaf of bread, three wolves, a stone cat, etc.

Heh, good take on the pennon design. Have to keep to base design simple; too much "personalization" would make it crowded and difficult to decipher from farther than ~10' away.

I'm all about comfort books when over-stressed. I want an escape, and if I'm really stressed, I want to know the book is going to grab my brain and make off with it. I'll usually trust a new book by a favorite author, especially in a favorite series, but mostly, I fall back on re-reading proven favorites. I've learned not to trust new titles and unfamiliar authors when it's crucial!

I'm mildly worried about the virus, given that I have asthma. but I live in a pretty rural area and can pretty easily avoid people entirely. I just hold the thought that when I eventually get it, they'll have figured out some kind of treatment. Too scary to think otherwise, and I prefer not to worry about "the worst" -- whether it's a critically sick friend, pet, or any other crisis -- until it's clear I have to worry about it. That way, if whatever it is becomes a non-event, I haven't made myself miserable with panic/despair for nothing.

Keeping it simple it is, then. (speaking for myself)

Just watched Seven Samurai—a pennon (a piece of cloth with symbol and staff) makes a big difference.

A Top 5 movie! I have it on DVD and am saving it for a rainy day.

In regards to Lantamori's question, the only thing that I could find in the game threads was this: link to a message in this game

Wherein I mention to Magistrate Hadlin that the guild is at the city's service. I think that, in order to stay clear of the minutia of contract negotiations, the good magistrate would have followed through with hiring us via the guild once we sent word to accept. Perhaps that was one of the tasks taken up by Sir Aberlayne.

Of course, I leave this to our good DM to adjudicate. I merely offer a reason for the tiny retcon necessary to ease our minds. ;)

Priests: rationalizing inconsistencies since the invention of gods. :D

I believe, unless I slipped a hoof somewhere, that everyone but Haazheel and Narthian has a mount, yes?

Haazheel has a horse.

Narthian has no need of a mount. It would just slow him down. ;)

Which horse is yours, Haazheel, and where did you get it?  I want to put the beast in the Mounts thread so I don't forget.

The Caravan Trip - On to Port Lyalee! msg# 227

Passing by the steady beasts of phlegmatic temper and plain coats, he found a blue roan gelding with a black nose, tall and shapely, named Azure, or a parchment-colored mare with blue eyes and exceptionally glossy hair, named Feather. Azure is advertised as the faster runner, Feather, however, is the showstopper in looks.

Haaaheel makes friends with Feather. He comments It's a pleasure to meet a lady who lets a fellow know what she wants.

Thanks much!  :)

These horses of a Feather must flock together...

It's a shame that I can only make one walk on air, though. :/

In reply to Farian Raymellie (msg # 119):

I'll volunteer mine.  ;)     That actually sounds fun!

I commissioned Horses of a Zephyr for Eagle when we did our last round of buying. Let's go earn ludicrous amounts of gold coins so I can pay them off! :)

... I just read the last line of the spell description.

"You can cast air walk on a specially trained mount so it can be ridden through the air. You can train a mount to move with the aid of air walk (counts as a trick; see Handle Animal skill) with one week of work and a DC 25 Handle Animal check."

Gah! Sometimes it's like the creators didn't want us to do fun things! :p

I'm giving it some serious thought, it is a week's journey to Gajin. However, I can prepare only one 4th level spell, and there are some doozies to help us in combat (Divine Power, Planar Ally-Lesser), survive around water (Control Water, Freedom of Movement, Summon Monster IV [Celestial Orca?]), deal with extra-planar foes (Dimensional Anchor, Dismissal), etc. Trying to weigh which will be the best benefit for the team.

Ironically, while my ride is good, my handle animal is horrible

Air Walk on one of the melee folk could be useful if we have to fight a flying opponent at sea

I also have Air Walk as an option, and my Handle Animal is +10. So that's a 25% chance of success. (Taking 20 isn't an option as it takes 20 times as long). Would I be able to get a bonus if I enhance the training using Speak with Animals?

Given we are about to head out into some possibly dangerous waters. Have we split the loot from our last endeavors?

link to a message in this game

I was wondering the same thing! However, I can only vouch for the "a leather belt decorated with symbols of the sun". Unless someone else wants to change their sex. ;)

None of the loot is particularly Springing to mind as a something i need.

And i like peeing standing up too much to want my own belt.  :)

Some of this was discussed before, because Dante has the blue belt and scabbard. It goes with his pretty clothes. ;)

The rest... as Farian said, she has the belt, and I don't reckon anyone else is keen to challenger her for it. ;D The rest... the gloves of dexterity sound like something that would be useful for Dante. I don't know what the phylactery of faithfulness is, so can't comment on that.

Sir Aberlayne sold quite a bit of loot in Port Lyalee.

The Caravan Trip - On to Port Lyalee!  msg#144

I think a lot of this list is already gone.  I think the DM should just say it's all been sold and move on.  If any of this was important, we should have dealt with it less than 10 months ago and put it on people's character sheets.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to grab as much valuable stuff as possible , but I'm just saying that none of the magic is calling out to me specifically

Though perhaps the potions might be fun
This message was last edited by the player at 21:59, Sun 19 Apr 2020.

I've already spent the money Sir Aberlayne gave out personally.

Where is the list that you're looking at? Id' think anyone could use the gloves of Dex. More AC/Init/Relf/Skill boosts are always good.

On the spellbook protection. if DM wants to allow it, Complete Arcane had a section on protecting spellbooks. There's a 1k gp magical enchantment to make them waterproof
This message was last edited by the player at 05:09, Mon 20 Apr 2020.

The standard Phylactery of Faithfulness is of most use to a paladin, as it helps prevent alignment affecting actions. In my opinion, such an item is best used in a campaign where the players and/or DM don't understand paladins. I've given up trying to play paladins on RPOL because of the all too common interference from other players or the occasional DM that thinks it is his/her duty to make my paladin fall.

http://www.dndadventure.com/ht...r_paladins_WOTC.html

If no one else wants the gauntlets, I could certainly use a boost in my dump stat. ;)

Yeah, I looked up the phylactery... had to hit several sites to even get a hint of what it was useful for. Weird item -- seems like something a church would give to someone inclined to stray off the "right" path, almost more punishment than not ("you can't be trusted").

I've always been a fan of Bracers of AC__ (being overly fond of playing thieves!), but they don't generally work with armor. The SRD didn't specify on that, but if they won't work with armor, they're only useful to those who don't normally wear armor.

The buckler needs someone who can use a shield, I think.

The collar seems most suited to someone who could use it -- which pretty much narrows it down to Narthian or Thunder. Although, if it could shrink and enlarge, it could benefit Prreet, too.

The potions are useful to any of us, I think. The water breathing one is likely to be useful on this next adventure. Someone just needs to be willing to carry them along - and hey, they come with a potion belt that can be reused for other potions later!

If the gloves of dexterity would improve Dante's archery, or his lock-picking or disarming traps, they'd be useful to him. (If they're not useful for that, then he'd have no reason to be interested in them.)

So, maybe for the things no one wants, we can trade them in for something(s) useful to us?

I recall Volsh showing interest in the collar, though I think that was pre-identify. If it enlarges, Demon could wear it! I'm ok with preparing and casting Magic Fang so Thunder and I can share it.

Haazheel is not gong to ask for anything. He will accept anything useful if it's offered. Whatever that might be, Dellas could make equal use of it.

In reply to Narthian Goldleaf (msg # 135):

Giving Demon the collar is a good idea

Keep

• 50' of fine golden rope - mundane, fine silk rope, worth 10gp
• four colorful potions in a blue leather belt - magical, and upon examination there is:
  • potion of cure moderate wounds
    Anyone can get this, who wants it? Bruenor?
  • potion of magic fang
    I'll take this just to have for later?
  • elixir of fire breath
    
    I mean... this is just fun. 3 single target blasts of flame. This seems like it should have gone in Dellas' pocket a long time ago. 
  • potion of water breathing
    who would drown or sink the fastest if they get knocked overboard at sea? they should get this one
• a pair of silvery bracers with symbol of a shield and fists upon them - magical, minor abjuration  [Bracers of Armour +2]
  
  these do not stack with any armor, so either Dellas or Haazheel. Just means you don't necessarily HAVE to cast mage armor right away as you'd have half of it up all the time.
• a blue-black buckler - Upon examination, it is a quiescent beetle the size of a buckler!  https://www.realmshelps.net/st...rmor/Buckler3_Beetle
  
  I can't use this really as I use a two handed weapon. Any use of my weapon loses me the AC bonus from the buckler.
• a pair of green snakeskin gloves - magical, minor transmutation (gloves of Dexterity +2)
  
  @Dante - this would effect anything related to Dex. So yes, your ranged attack rolls, initiative, AC (if not hampered by armor), Dex based skills all go up by +1 with these
• a leather collar spiked with wooden spikes - magical, minor transmutation (collar of magic fang, use can invoke magic fang on themselves 3/day for 10 rounds)
  
  I vote either Thunder or Demon. Demon's a good horse, maybe he deserves a reward for cornering Stumpking
• two belt pouches that have about twenty platinum coins between them - mundane
  
  this is 2 pp per person in the group plus 2 left over for... group expenses
• Phylactery(s) of Faithfulness
  
  I'd think Farian and/or Ser Aberlayne would want one of these? They're not a punishment, I'd say more a voluntary thing for the cautious worshiper to make sure they don't accidentally stray from their ideals
  

Grabbing a healing potion sounds like a good idea.    I'll take the CMW potion if no one wants it desperately


And I'll glad accept the collar on Demon's behalf, unless someone thinks Thunder can get more use out of it

17:49, Today: Haazheel Thorn rolled 2 using 1d2.  1, Dellas; 2, Haazheel ?

Haazheel flips a coin. When he sees the results, he says I'd like to have the bracers, please.

Go for it. I have reasonable AC (for a mage) due to dex and my size bonus as is. Mage armour is a nice bonus to that.


I'd be half interested in the gloves, but they would be better on other characters.


As far as an enchantment to protect my books. At this time that is beyond my means as I spent quite a bit at the Enclave grabbing a couple spells.

No need for Phylactery(s) of Faithfulness. Farian has unquestioning loyalty to Pelor and Saint Bane and confidently (and knowingly) stands in The Shining One's light. ;)

I already have a large bronze shield, so no need of the smaller, less effective beetle buckler. Plus bugs, eww! :p

I will take the Potion of Water Breathing. At the very least, it will buy me time to cast the Water Breathing spell.

The collar is Demon's or Prreet's. I could use the Beetle Buckler though, since I don't have any of Farian's squeamishness. If no one else wants it, I'll take the fire potion too. Imagine this: drink potion, transform into giant peregrine falcon, dive bomb ships at close to 200 mph. ... Unless the potion wears off too quickly to be effective in this way... "Unused blasts dissipate 1 hour after the potion is consumed"!!!! (https://www.realmshelps.net/magic/items/potions.shtml)

I'm sure if we looked back in the OOC thread we'd find a very similar unresolved discussion of how to divide this loot list.

Anyone who wants an item, roll a d20 for that item.  Highest roll wins.  Roll off for ties.  Make sure to note what you're rolling for in the roll description.

11:46, Today: Farian Raymellie rolled 2 using 1d20 ((2)).

Make sure you put in the item you're rolling for in the roll description.  Assume that was for the water breathing potion for Farian's roll.

Of course you can make individual rolls for each item you'd like to claim.

There's another way of rolling for treasure. Everyone rolls a D20, highest goes first and either picks an item or passes. Any items left over after one round are sold or claimed. Left over items claimed by two people go to the person with the lower number, considering that the person with the higher number probably got the better item in round 1.

Shield and Fire Breath Elixer are all Narthian's from my part.

I love that visual too... gods I hope we get into a sea battle so Narthian can do that now.

A fire breathing falcon.

With thanks to all, particularly Dellas, Haazheel takes possession of the bracers of defense.

Hah totally missed the potion of Fire Breath. Uh yeah Dellas would totally be interested in that. He's kinda fire Crazy, two of the new spells he picked up wreath him in flames in some way or another....

Balor's Nimbus & Body of the Sun.

Or we could just agree to share the loot out amongst ourselves, only rolling for contested items. Seems like that works pretty well for us. :)

I'll go for the gloves, if that's alright. With more shadows coming, being able to hit those suckers with the sacred arrows would be good!

Demon can have the collar. The idea of a horse with that is darkly amusing. (Having just seen the nasty bruise on my friend's husband's chest, where her stallion bit him yesterday when he was trying to halter him... and that was mostly just a nip.)

The rope would obviously be useful just to keep handy. Maybe we can give (donate) the phylacteries to Farian's temple.

Although... are those things aligned to a specific god? Are they a set? I can't see Dante thinking of it, but Farian might know. As a player, I'm curious if those were intended to keep the druid on the proper path, and they failed. Or were they just leftovers from the druid's/harpies' past victims? Or to keep the harpies aligned with the druid?

I think that the only contested item is the Fire Breathing potion, which, despite the image of a fire bombing falcon, is best left to our pyromancer. The potion is yours, Dellas. Here's a link that I found to the item, our DM can correct me if it's wrong. https://www.realmshelps.net/magic/items/potions.shtml

We have two systems of loot division proposed. Either would work in a cooperative group like ours. I think that these items were left this long simply because none of us took the initiative to start the haggling. (Who know that we could all roll a 1 on that initiative check?)

https://www.d20srd.org/srd/mag...acteryofFaithfulness

There's nothing in the description that indicates that it is aligned. My only question is whether our clever DM has tweaked it, like so many of the items we've collected have been. It can't hurt to have Farian or Aberlayne wear them for a while.

here is the d20srd link for the Elixir

https://www.d20srd.org/srd/mag...m#elixirofFireBreath

I think the main reason the division didn't happen sooner was that the loot all came when there was a transition to a newer group of players (me included), so I was still trying to get caught up on everything and forgot about them.

Plus there was nothing that screamed "VOLSH NEEDS THIS" at me :)

I am good with the arcane casters purchasing the arcane and/or mundane spellbook protections from the Complete Arcane.

The Phylactery of Faithfulness is aligned to the tenants of Nerull, the god of necromancy.

Well, that settles that. The Phylactery will be destroyed. ;)

In reply to Farian Raymellie (msg # 155):

I'm usually against destroying valuable assets, but in this case I'll second Farian

Now i'm just imagining Dellas doing everything possible to not just consume the potion right away and breathing gouts of fire for fun.... lol

Join Farian in her fire smiting of unholy objects with your fiery halitosis!

You've heard of clerics "spontaneous cast"? Well this one was "impulsive cast". :D

Farian - nothing like the smiting of the sun to show those bony fools who's boss!

--

Ya know what could be hilarious?  Giving the Elixir of Fire Breath to Demon before battle.  Then with Bruenor with his red armor, flaming sword, and a fire-breathing black stallion, he could have thundered in with "I am the Prince of Hellfire!"

I mean, that is some good ballad material right there.  :D

LOL That sounds like an album cover from way back when....

I think Farian was even more put off by the Conclave than Dante was. ;)

Do from a role playing perspective, where is this smiting and scorching happening?  In the main hall of the Adventurer's Guild?

Not that Lantamori's even there, but some concerned citizens might be in the area.

The more public the better! :D

Since it is an elixir and listed under Wondrous Items, can't someone capable of making wondrous items make it? And am I crazy, or doesn't one of our wizards have the Create Wondrous Items feat?

I have never, as a magic person, created anything other than 0-level stuff. It costs XP among other things. Nor have I, in all my years of D&D, been with any player who has. Also, as far as I can recall, the same is true for the metamagic feats that require using higher spell slots.

Come to think of it, it's weird. Normally, one gains experience when one is practicing a craft.

BTW, all Crafting NPCs know the REGAIN HPS spell and have access to Reyouthing(TM) Cola.

I've played in a game where the create feats were replaced by the Incantations optional rule. Some of the more powerful items carried a lot of risks in enchanting.

I've experimented with the meta-magic, and they have their utility, but generally are not worth a precious feat slot.

Yes I have craft wondrous items. But it costs both gold and XP. We had come to some sort of conclusion on this before with our XP since we usually told go ahead and raise a level.

And time.

I would allow multiple people to donate XP for the creation of something, if they're all willing to put in some time.

I've crafted all sorts of things in 3.5 as a wizard before. Sure, it takes XP, but it doubles your wealth effectively.

Also, the XP burn isn't all that onerous, even to craft a staff of Power it only takes 8,000 XP, which by the time you can burn 100k gp on a single item to craft, 8k's not all that much. A 1st level scroll is all of 1 xp, while a 2nd level is 6.

You also can't actually lose a level from it. If the item was for Volsh or for some other good purpose for the group or someone in it, Volsh might be persuaded to share the XP load.

In reply to Volsh son of Vor (msg # 169):

The problem is we don't have a "true" XP total. At least everything so far is you've done enough to gain a level for the time I've been in the game.

As far as what was discussed before, part of the original discussion was removal of the XP costs, though we as players liked the XP cost mechanic as it creates some "investment" into the item. Others chimed in around the DM's comments, but his were the most relevant atm to our current discussions.





I would look at crafting more if XP for our mini-adventures was given out at those times instead of later. Though I could be missing those posts. But last I saw for XP was just the 4000 Xp that put everyone able for 7th during our original craft discussion.

So did we not do the horse shrinking into stone thing?

We do...

It wasn't until Dellas mentioned losing his lunch that I recalled the feeling of coming back to shore after an hour of more balancing on waves. Thirty years ago, I was a lifeguard assigned to the beach at MFO South Camp. One of our stations was on a whale board patrolling the edge of the reef. After an hour or so out there, you'd paddle back in to rotate. For the next 10 minutes on the beach, you'd still feel the waves.

I just looked at a current picture of the place, and OMG has it changed in 30 years. http://mfo.org/en/south-camp

Semi-resort? Looks like too few females, from the pictures.

It appears to me to be more of a resort now then when I was there. Back then, at the start of Desert Storm, it had a very "temporary military camp that outgrew the 'temporary' status" feel. The primary occupants were an infantry battalion of the US Army - so you're right in regards to male-female ratio. I assume that that is still true. We had a Dutch communications unit, a British civilian facilities management team overseeing Egyptian workers, Canadian air force flying Hueys, and visits from Italian Navy and the other two observer infantry battalions (from Fiji and Columbia, when I was there). The beach itself was technically open to the public. We occasionally had European tourists stop in as a respite from the religious influence on other resort areas in Egypt. That's about the only time that we saw women.


... I suppose that I ought to mention that although Farian is female, I am not. I was with the US Army contingent.

Pictures now show women. One is leading a group of joggers/racers. Seems to me a good place to install a lot of solar panels, build more desalination plants, and have growing things.

Yeah, a lot has changed in 30 years.

Narthian needs to develop this spell for himself:

http://dnd.arkalseif.info/spel...ngs--4032/index.html

Nah. I just need to tweak Longstrider to work in other environments. I already have three spells on my list to research. Not including the "missing" {animal}'s {trait} type spells from the Druid list.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:41, Wed 13 May 2020.

In reply to Narthian Goldleaf (msg # 180):

Pathfinder 1e has a spell called "Greater Longstrider". Makes the walking boost +20' but then adds +10' to any/all other modes.

Druid 3/Ranger 3; 1 hr per level.

You have the wrong class. You should be a classic D&D Sage. :D

In reply to Narthian Goldleaf (msg # 182):

Nah, I just have played a TON of Druids over the years :)

I'm a druid in a couple of PF games so the PF one is at the forefront of my mind. I was just looking up how to increase my fly speed for one.

Do we need mounts in town, or are we walking?

You could leave them on the ship, but it would be boring for your mounts. And yes, there is a public stable at be the Harbor for people to leave their mounts. 1 silver a day, 2 if you want extra grain and a hostler to check them.

Sounds good.   A bored Demon is a bad thing.  :)

...or an amazing thing :P

I'm carrying eagle with me in stone horse form.

FYI... Since my scouting mission will take all day, I won't post IC until we all meet up for supper.

Headed camping this week. Will be MIA from Thursday through Sunday.

Do we have anyone with some ranks in Gather Information?

I don't think so. Sir Aberlayne has Diplomacy, but not Gather Info.

If by gather information you mean "intimidate"? then yes. Otherwise... that's a no from Volsh :)

Not Haazheel.

Are we trying to get information from squirrels? That I could help with. :D

I can threaten people, but I've never learned about asking nicely, I'm afraid

Diplomacy will have to do.

Using Diplomacy will mean targeting specific people and persuading them to help you, whereas Gather Information will let you get a broad view of information from many people.  So for Diplomacy, I'm going to need who specifically you want to talk to.

Gather Information can be used untrained, so people could just make Charisma rolls for the several hours needed for said check to see what they could find.

Totally missed this before I made my comment:

Also, there were actually three different meals - the fish, the soup, and the pigeon, and you said you wanted two of each, being six different meals for you!  I believe Lantamori was paying for the rooms?  At least up front, and I assumed people were going to pay her back.  Or Sir Aberlayne will cover the bill for the nonce, and you can pay her back.

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 199):

all righty then :) He'd try

Lantamori can pay for the rooms.  Just let me know how much the three 4 person rooms were for the night.

Just a heads up that my posting may be on hold for a few days. I'm going to Colorado in the morning for a last visit with family before they trade the cold winters for hurricane summers on the east coast. I will likely have net access while there, but the drive is going to be rough -- my hands/wrists are not in good shape for this. It's going to hurt, and thus may affect my ability to type. I expect to be home early in the week, but again, there may be recovery time required.

So, back home from Colorado... minus my car. I should get both the police report and the judgement of the claims adjuster tomorrow. And hopefully find out if the other driver's insurance company is planning to be difficult or just acknowledge their driver was at fault and pay up -- preferably before I get the bill for my ER co-pay and health insurance deductible.

And all that fun happened only 3 hours from home outbound....

Averdante, have you looked into getting a remove curse spell cast on you?  *hugs*

Mesachie wawa, Klatawa! (Curse, go away!)

LOL Yeah, starting to feel that way. No news on my car today... they brought it down from the mountains, but someone at the yard here has Covid-19, so the adjuster can't go in to see it personally. He's waiting for them to send him pictures and mileage, etc.

Meantime, I'm finding I may have been hurt more than I thought. The seat belt crunched on an old injury, and my normal chores are apparently now on an "how badly do you want to do this?" status. :P

I've been waiting to see if any of you have questions for the woman.

Volsh does not.

Ooo! Oo-ooo! Pick me! Pick me! :D

Farian can't help but be curious of the undead. ... The better to send them to their eternal rest! ... Or allow them to clear out the trash, if that's what's happening... :D

Are Bruenor, Dellas, Farian, Narthian, and Volsh at the table with Haazheel?

Narthian is not. It is early afternoon, and my scouting trip will take to early evening.

Bruenor wasn't specifically invited anywhere, so he's good with anything

tax deadlines wednesday. So busy at work. If I can't get to post after work i'll catch up on Thursday.

I do not envy anyone who is concerned about tax deadlines.  ;)

Writing deadline was rather pressing, so I hope to update sometime in the next brace of days.  Work is getting more vigorous too, as of late.  Curses.

Haazheel has something to tell people at the table. As far as I know, Bruenor is the only other party person present.

In reply to Haazheel Thorn (msg # 216):

I'm still at the table, unless someone wanted me to tag along

I'm getting the sense that it's almost time for me to return. Looks like we may have a couple or three possible leads.

By the time Farian is ready to meet with Buno, Narthian should be back and up to speed on what's going on.  We just have to see how everyone else is going to handle the watcher, and who, if anyone, is going to start a riot.  :D

My money is on Volsh starting the riot. Thunder might help. ;)

Week busier than expected - work is being a pain, will need to wait until Tue the 11th to start posting again. Apologies!

We'll be here when you're ready

Yep, we can be patient at least that long! ;)

I live it the part of Iowa juat hit by a hurricane. No power. Spotty cell service at best. Will be offline for likely the next 4-7 days. GM please NPC me as necessary.

Same here, I'm a bit south of you, no power due to windstorm. Will post when able.

I was wondering how bad your area was hit. The news that I've seen has focused on Cedar Rapids. The nighttime photo in this article is the more telling of the extent of the storm's impact, but doesn't quite include the Quad Cities.

https://www.kcrg.com/2020/08/1...-visible-from-space/

My family is all ok. In 3.5 hours, I will have completed Day 7 without power. My property took only minor damage otherwise. Spent most of the last week clearing my neighbors trees and making temporary repairs to the roof.

Hope everyone else is doing OK.

Please take care of yourselves

Echoing what Farian said, but yeah, Cedar Rapids got the worst of it in Iowa.

I now in a position do to an update on what happened in my neck of the woods.  Search for "Iowa derecho" if you want to see exactly what happened, but what basically was going on was that on Monday, August 10th a massive windstorm hit my area around 1:30pm (I was asleep due to my nocturnal schedule, but I woke up in a hurry).  It was a derecho, a straight-line windstorm with winds up to 100mph, though it was about 80mph in my area.  Is sounded like a freight train and looked like a hurricane, with branches and bits of roofing flying by our front windows.  We lost power shortly after the storm and didn't get it back until last evening on Friday the 15th.  We didn't get Internet back until Saturday the 16th, and spent most of Sunday and Monday replacing the food we'd lost from our fridge and ice chest and doing chores we couldn't do with the power out.  We were very lucky in that we (or my parents in the same area) didn't have any house damage and very minimal tree damage. Some folks weren't so lucky. There were trees across roads, trees on houses, and some cities had very massive property damage to a huge amount of homes and businesses (one city to the west of us has people camping in their front yards as they have no place else to stay). There are still roads shut with trees and light poles across them, and we've lost an immense amount of trees everywhere.  Every day for a week the air is alive with the sounds of generators, chainsaws, and woodchippers.  It's going to take weeks to get the branches and trees cleared that fell down during the storm, more to remove the trees that are damaged but still upright, and every third house is sporting a tarp to cover lost shingles, roof damage, or worse. We're one of the lucky ones and I am very grateful right now.

I will hopefully be able to update the game tonight or tomorrow.

I'm in Texas, which gets slammed by hurricanes about every five years, so you definitely have my sympathies

Please take care of yourself my friend, and don't worry about us

Great description, it's like I was there! :D I'm glad to hear that you have power again!

Straight line winds are not unusual, even 100 mph ones, in Iowa. However, they typically last 10 minutes. These went on for 40+ minutes. I imagine that you would have felt at home, Bruenor. :) Cedar Rapids (and maybe other communities) had a 20 minute period of sustained 90+. The first 6-8 hours following the storm we heard non-stop chain saws and nearly constant sirens as our first responders scrambled to deal with a backlog of emergency calls. The chainsaws are less common now, but generators are still a constant. My home internet is now working, plugged into my generator. The neighborhood directly to my south (as in across the street) has power. The lines on my block are trashed. My home line is dropping four feet from the ground, but still connected to my house with no evident damage. The two houses west of me had their lines severed. I may have power today, but it's more likely they'll skip us to get a larger neighborhood back online. Our thanks to all of the out of state power companies that sent crews! C'est la vie.

On the plus side, the lines for generator gas are much shorter!

In reply to Farian Raymellie (msg # 230):

I'm glad it wasn't worse.   Take care of yourself my friend

Eight days, 8 hours, and 1 minute, then the kitchen light turned back on, startling my wife. She wept a little in relief. I could hear only one generator last night, somewhere north of us. Started the first of many loads of laundry at 5 AM today. Just read the Storage instructions for my generator. We're back to the normal COVID world. :)

WOW!

Yay! Progress!

Although it's still sad when the "Covid" world is the normal one. :P

Silver linings, and all of that. Latest updates from the National Weather Service puts the top wind speeds in my community at 140 mph - category 3 hurricane. I can finally truly understand what Atlantic and Gulf coast folks go through. Bruenor, I imagine that your home must be strapped down to the ground like deck cargo. ;)

I once had a couple co-workers based in Miami. One was building his own home - out of concrete and steel! We teased him about his "bunker" at the time, but if this type of storm becomes a mid-west norm, I'll be building a hobbit hole. :p

Please take your time and take care of yourself and family DM. That's some crazy stuff and I understand.

I'm glad I'm not in Louisiana or east Texas right now. Batten down your hatches, Bruenor! I wish I had a two day warning a couple weeks ago. We still have time to buy a 1200 mile extension cord!

In reply to Farian Raymellie (msg # 237):

Thank you, my friend.    It's already raining, so we'll see what happens.   We're a good 100  miles or so from the coast, so we'll see if that helps

Well, we had one good joke come out of the derecho:

Last week in Iowa, it was totally normal to run around in a mask with a chainsaw!

*ba-dum ching!*

Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week...

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 239):

A mask and chainsaw is a great way to enforce social distancing

Ha!  I just imagined myself as Leatherface, chasing teenagers with my tiny electric chainsaw until I run out of extension cord.

In reply to Farian Raymellie (msg # 241):

You just need a wind up one

LOL A very good point. :D

Did Bruenor pass by me and I head off with them? Thought I was outside Averdante and Lantamori's shop

I'll fix that later today.

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 245):

It's easy enough to say Dellas got bored outside of the shop and decided to wander off and found Bruenor. And it would fit Dellas's general personality. It could have just been food that got him wandering too.

Would you rather follow Bruenor and Haazheel or Lantamori and Averdante?  Either is good by me.  :)

Ok, edited my post so that Haazheel and Bruenor are encountering the ruffians, while Dellas follows the watcher following Lantmori and Averdante (this is getting to be quite the little parade...).

Also, Haazheel and Dellas, would one of you like to pick a speech color distinct from anyone else in the party, as you both currently use blue?  Sometimes when I'm in a hurry (as I was when making my original post) I key into speech color for swift response.  Hopefully this will keep me from making silly mistakes like that in the future!

Ooo... I also use blue. Goldenrod would suit a Sun's Ray better. I'm willing to switch if it isn't to hard for people to see.

I can see all of the colors easily enough, so I'm good with anything, as long as everyone has something different!  :)

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 248):

Yes I can pick something new. I think Blue was just what was being used prior. Are you using red for anything to keep me from using that? Being a fan of fire and all...

Red I would like to reserve for screaming emergencies and demons. }:-) How about RoyalRed?  Or Yellow?

Thank you, Dellas.

*looks daggers at Haazheel*
What!?!? You want ME to talk to him!?!?  Why, you sneaky, low down hobbit!!!  Going out for drinks was YOUR idea, darn it!!   I just wanted to punch people in the face!
*grumble grumble mutter mutter profane statement profane statement*

sorry for my MIA been busy week at work. will slow down for 2 weeks then pickup again soon.

Running behind here, too. Work has become extremely stressful. I've discovered a portal to hell in my library, cleverly disguised as merely the door to our computer lab. There are demonic maggots in it daily and trying to keep them restrained is... unpleasant. Lack of administrative support only exacerbates the issues. :(

Demonic maggots.  Very dangerous.  You go first.

:-O

Hello all!! New player taking over a used character. At I skip into this old skin, is there anything that I need to know about your character specifically, just PM me so I don't lose it in this OCC chat. Aka any fueds, love interests, annoyances, that I need to maintain.

Thanks in advance

In reply to Volsh son of Vor (msg # 258):

Welcome to the game.

You, me (druid), and my wolf companion are a mini wolf pack. Other then that, welcome aboard and don't worry about being true to the previous player's version of Volsh. We'll adapt to your version.

Yep, we're adaptable around here. :) Welcome to the game.

10-4. I just want to make this an easy a transition as possible and don't want to miss some plot point or association.

In reply to Volsh son of Vor (msg # 262):

Narthain gave you likely the biggest plot point atm.

Just a note, if you go berserk as a werewolf, a number of party members will be more than happy to kill you.

Just, you know, friendly-like.  A nice and pleasant murder, done for your Own Good.  :D

LOL! There's still time for a cure. Courtesy of Pelor, our Light in the Darkness! ;)

Welcome!

Oh, I'm sure I can contain myself. Maybe. Kind of. It's a work in progress. I'll try and catch myself up on at least the background info and try to post something up soon.

Who is where? Has the party gathered with Bruenor and Haazheel?

Oops. My mistake. I was checking names against who I should speak to and then forgot to.

Sorry for the confusion.

Haz shouldn't've responded to me, but I still should have caught it.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:29, Mon 26 Oct 2020.

We are split into 2-3 groups atm. Maybe more. I'm with Dante at another inn right now. I know Bruenor and Haazheel are together.

I know that I'm with Farian, Lantamori, Thunder, and Sir Aberlayne at the Jade Rose.

@Volsh: Lantamori brought up a good plot point IC to be aware of - the fact that Farian started out as male. Then went through a handful of players who eventually turned him female (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0009.html), which the current player chose to keep.

Actually, Dante and Dellas are at the same inn as Bruenor, Haazheel, and Volsh -- except neither group knows the other is there. Dante's in the kitchen speaking to the cook, Dellas is in the alley/street behind the kitchen, and the others are in the common room.

Also, Volsh is making a calculated guess about the server. :) Dante gave a description of him, I think, but only he and Dellas have actually seen him (which is why they're at the back of the inn -- they followed him to it.

Oh, mabye one other backstory plot point worth noting. A while back we fought an evil druid who was working with (probably gating in, somehow) some shadows. Just before we left the port city on the continent, Dante discovered the shadows are hunting for him... maybe the group as a whole, but definitely him. Whether they're doing this on their own, or at the evil druid's behest, or with the evil druid, is unknown. The seer wasn't real clear about it, of course!

Good point. Again, I'm trying to figure out what I would know, so since I don't, I've adjusted my post slightly to bring it more in line with character knowledge.

Going to be on vacation through the 9th of November, should able to resume on the 10th. Possibly could post before then, but no promises!

Enjoy!!!

Enjoy and be safe!

Highlight of Halloween night was the full moon ducking in and out of scattered clouds. I should have put on my werewolf kit instead of my grim reaper. Downside was the roughly 1/3 normal turnout.

Per my wife's coworker: "Halloween was unnecessary this year. I've been wearing a mask and eating chocolate for 7 months!"

Yeah, I was in town for Halloween and left the next day.  Turnout was maybe three dozen kids, and maybe a third of those were parents who would drive up and down the blocks, see whose lights were on, pause there, pile the kids out, do the treat thing, pile them back in the car, and go find the next house.  There were only maybe 4 houses lit up on our street, and since it's a heavily residential, reasonably prosperous, and safe neighborhood within three blocks of an elementary school and six blocks of a high school, we usually get hundreds.

About 2/3rds were wearing masks or wearing masks underneath their Halloween masks - the husband and I stayed safe because my costume includes a full-head mask with the only openings being screened-over eyeholes (so I just stayed still and looked creepy until I moved) while he dressed regular with a plain mask and gloves and handed out the candy/toys to keep contact to a minimum.  The kids who came at the end of the night got big handfuls of stuff!

Then I spent the rest of vacation in the north woods, because this last week lasted six hundred years.

Happy Thanksgiving. May you congregate with as many or as few as you wish.

In reply to Volsh son of Vor (msg # 279):

Hopefully fewer, and please be safe, everyone

Met with no one, except for short periods with a mask.  Made most of the food, delivered it to the parents' houses in the morning, and then we got together via the internet for games in the evening.  Food was just as good, and the company just about as good!

(Apologies for the lengthy delays I've been experiencing. Work has taken an uptick as I am needed to do some additional training of an employee the rest of my crew is not being patient with. Yelling and being exasperated is not going to make her learn faster, people! Patience and consideration work a lot better than huffing and sighing and complaining.)

Amen on the training thing!

We had a pleasant, odd, remote Thanksgiving. Par for the year, I suppose.

Work has been busy. I should be able to pay tonight afterwards.

Okay, for the sake of simplicity, if Bruenor, Haazheel, Volsh, and Rand want to head out to meet Lantamori, Narthian, Sir Aberlayne, and Farian for Buno's meeting, we could have (as Narthian suggested) Thunder give the Wanderfoot crowd a note once they'd determined a likely location for Buno's "friend".  (That location likely being the secluded cove on the far side of the island.)  Then those who are ground-bound can try to hustle overland to said cove (which would definitely take some Constitution checks, because the island is very steep and hilly, hence why Buno and company are taking the ketch instead of walking), or see if Hubert can steer the Sea Lady near the area and then they can then row a jollyboat over to their suspected target cove.  That gets everyone in on this caper at the same place at the same time.  What say you all?  Further suggestions?  Alternative ideas?

That sounds good.  Let's head out.   :)

So what you're saying is that no matter what we do, things will always turn out in our favor?

No planning necessary, no good ideas, and everybody gets a trophy for showing up?

Otherwise I'm fine with the kids table joining the adults for dessert.

"80 percent of success is showing up." - Woody Allen

I think the GM is mainly trying to get it so we are off doing stuff together. Right now we are split up all over.

And just maybe, I ran into a solid but dangerous lead.

I had intended for everyone to be done with their thing before heading out on this thing, if that helps any. If my thing is just a dangerous thing and not a lead, we can circle back to Averdante's thing, or Bruenor's and Haazheel's thing, or whatever thing Volsh and Dellas are doing. :D

One of the advantages of play by post is the ability for the DM to easily handle a split party without someone sitting on their hands at the table.

The other group could always go outside and dare the mist to be more than mist.

*shrug*  I was just throwing an option out there, but certainly we can go in any number of directions.  If Bruenor, Haazheel, Volsh, and Rand don't end up getting out of the Wanderfoot until after Farian, Lantamori, Sir Aberlayne, and Narthian have left to meet Buno, then the Wanderfoot group could certainly find other avenues to pursue, or said avenues will find them...

Being the new kid, I'm just along for the ride.

If my descriptions are too much, please let me know and I'll dial them back. I just love crafting stories and I tend to get long winded.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:18, Thu 17 Dec 2020.

You're dong great!

@Volsh, I agree with Haazheel, you're giving us an excellent interpretation of your version of Volsh. It will help us play off him in the future.

@Lantamori, my 2 cp here, perhaps your experience DMing PBP is different from mine. Our DM has been fantastic in letting us pursue our individual goals, but I wouldn't call it easy. Split parties also split timelines, such as when I was gone for what, 100 posts or more flying recon. I don't regret it, it's what Narthian would do, but it was hard for me to read and not add to the narrative for that long. I've seen players leave games for shorter stretches of uninvolvement. Splitting the timeline involves complications on how to get the party gets back together, the DM has to track who is where, doing what, switching mental gears between various NPCs with differing motivations and personalities, all while trying to keep everyone involved and happy. Not to mention dealing with Real Life™.

My own opinion is that the DM was trying to make it "easy" again by getting us back together. It wouldn't hurt for us to help our DM once in a while. The end result will be the same.

I'll have something up this afternoon, Dellas. Have a staff meeting shortly.

Thanks y'all. Being a GM for 20+ years on tool has effected my descriptive abilities. Too bad I just don't have the time anymore to run my own game. I want to do a Gamma World version of an adventure path or just a single scenario. I'm an ltl truck driver that works 12-14 hours a day and am only off on weekends where I have an extremely long honey dew list. We just bought a house this summer and now all the maintenance is on me. Plus 5 kids to keep up with. . . It's tiring, but fun.

Maybe one day.

Come to think of it, Starfinder might be easier.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:03, Thu 17 Dec 2020.

One nice thing about online meetings is they're a whole lot shorter than the in-person ones ever were. I'm good with that!

No worries, Volsh -- I tend to be on the wordy side, too. You've got company. ;)

Merry Christmas all. Sorry I've been incognito for the past 3 days. I've been wrorking allot of hours, but I've guy the next 4 days off.

Merry Christmas all!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Apologies for the absence - between the ramp-up the holidays and need for me to be on the floor at work things have been less conducive to gaming (or anything more than light Internet surfing) than I would have wished.

I hope everyone's Yuletide holidays were merry and bright, and if you are not a Yuletide person, I hope your last week was good!

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 301):

Thank you had a great weekend. The last 2 weeks of the year I always expect be slower than usual due to the holidays.

Narthian, you mentioned casting spider climb to get out of the water, and now I have this terrifying mental image of a dolphin climbing cliffs and trees...

LOL! That would be a curious sight to say the least! But that's not what I have in mind.

Happy new year, y'all. I'll get a post up today. My holiday break was a weird one, with my friend and her husband (and my normal source of internet access away from work) quarantined due to exposure to someone with Covid-19. Given my laptop battery is good for about 15 minutes these days, that pretty much curtailed my internet activity for the break. :P

But, I'm back at work, and they'll be off quarantine come Wednesday. (And she tested negative, her husband positive; he rapidly got sick, flu-like version, and got through it. Probably she'll have to be tested again to confirm she's still negative, although she's still not had any symptoms -- yay.)

Lol. Sounds like a Minecraft glitch to me.

@Averdante hopefully everything goes well with your friend.

Thanks, Volsh. So far, she's still fine, and her husband seems fully recovered. I do wonder if we have to wait until her husband's been symptom-free for 10 days before they can come off quarantine, though.

You're welcome and I can understand the frustration. There's a much about this that we just either aren't being told or just don't know.

Like the doctor once told me when I was constipated, this will all pass. ;)

One way or another. ;)

Well, my friends were both up this morning at o'dark early when I stopped by to feed my horses (lights on in the house), which means they're both going to work today. I guess that means the quarantine is over. Yay!

Any Skill rolls you want for the Card Game?

As I had posted earlier... ;)

Being only barely aware of how blackjack works (aim for 21, aces can be 1 or 11 -- that about covers it!), if the cards are low, then more cards are needed, right? So does one ask for those cards before, or after paying to stay in the current hand/game? The latter makes more sense, but maybe that's just me.

Yeah, that's basically the rules for blackjack, but I'm tossing in a little smidgen of poker too, in that you can try to raise the bets if you're pretty sure your cards, or your cards plus what you ask for will get you to the target number.  So yes, the latter in terms of placing bets.  One bet at the start of the round to begin, additional bets once everyone has their cards, then winner takes all.

Minor point of order, I believe Volsh is with the Jade Rose Inn crew, as that's where Thunder was waiting for them with the note from Narthian, rather than with Averdante and Dellas in the Wanderfoot gambling room.

Hope everyone is doing okay. This winter weather in most of the US is crazy atm. Stay safe & Stay healthy.

We're having sporadic blackouts here.  Good times.

Nothing life threatening yet, though


Take care,  everyone

Good to hear Bruenor.  Hope everyone is staying safe in the southern US.  Midwest US (me) is cold, but we're doing okay so far.

AZ is doing well so far.

All is serene in Oregon's Eugene.

In reply to Haazheel Thorn (msg # 320):

Another point in favor of moving to the northwest.   :)

AZ could use some of that water the east is hoarding with all the snow storms going on. We're getting some snow in the high country, which will help, but in the desert, the winter monsoon season is proving to be as much of a non-event as the summer's was. And last winter's. And the previous summer's.... My county has 40% of the farmland lying fallow right now because of the drought. :(

On the plus side, my roof's not leaking. :D

You can have all our water. My backyard has been a swamp for almost 6 months now. It's so wet, we had a tree lay over on the house. Didn't do my damage other than pull some of our roof up. At least I got a decent price to remove it, but I have to wait till at least Monday to have it done.

Ah trees. I remember having those. :D

I feel your pain. ... Hm, when did you take over Volsh? If it was after August, you might have to go back in the OOC to understand the sympathy and comment. Right now, I really feel for those in Texas (and I think around Portland, OR?). I was without power in Summer, and even then we were happy that it wasn't Winter.

Hey everyone,

I'm sure you noticed me slowing down my posting in the last few months and weeks. While I am enjoying DMing the game, I have had a flareup (or downturn, I suppose) of my depression due to work factors, home factors, and general world issue factors, which makes it hard for me to work up the wherewithal to post appropriately, or sometimes at all.  Which then can snowball into feeling bad because I haven't posted, but then being too depressed to post, which means I feel bad I haven't posted...

You get the drift.  ;)

I am seeking appropriate professional help to get better/make things more manageable (this isn't my first rodeo). I am going to take a short DMing break whist I get through the first stage of treatment, so I hope to resume posting in just over two weeks.

Everyone remember to take care of yourselves!

~Isida

Please remind yourself that you have people rooting for you.

Your health comes first,  my friend.    This game has been one of the highest quality games I've been in since coming to rpol.  So please take care of yourself and take your time.   We'll be here when you're ready.

This game is well worth the wait and we'll be here when you're ready.

I too suffer from depression. While I still have episodes, I've found that focusing on something higher than myself helps to lessen these episodes. Whether this is your family, your community, or a deity, having something to draw my attention away from my current issues helps me to get out of my funks quicker.

Either way, I know I'll be here when you come back.

Thank you for letting us know. And don't worry about us. As pretty much everyone else has indicated, this is a great game and well worth waiting for. I wish you the best of health!

I can't tell you how happy that it makes me that you're seeking help.

Even though I gave up being Catholic for Lent in 1986, I have always found solace in what is commonly called The Serenity Prayer.

God grant me the Patience to accept the things that I cannot change,
The Courage to change the things that I can,
And the WISDOM to know the difference.


Wisdom is the tricky one. ;) The joke about "giving up being Catholic for Lent" proves that I'm still a few points short of an 18. ;) The fact that you're seeking help shows that you're easily above a 10. I hope that this brings a smile to the face of all who read it. Be well!

As someone who has also suffered from depression (it's mostly in remission, but I'm not sure I'll ever have the confidence to say "cured"), bravo on reaching out for help. If it's not the right kind of help, I hope it helps guide you to something that is.

And as everyone else has said, take care of yourself, first. You've been one of the best DMs I've played with. I greatly enjoy the creativity you've invested in the campaign, and I will be here when you're ready to continue.

Checking in, Make sure everyone is doing okay over here. Hope all is well.

Just continuing to work my butt off, but I finally got a laptop so I can start running my own games. I can type waaaaaay faster than I can swipe. lol

How are you doing?

Hello, all.  I'm holding up so far.   A few miscellaneous health issues,  but I'm less worried about Covid now, as I've been vaccinated.

Things are good all in all for me. I'm finally taking care of some of my health issues and getting others looked at.

I'm 13 days away from my second vaccination. The sun is shining somewhere. I'm still learning something new every day. And one of my cats just puked in my shoe. I'd say things are pretty normal. :)

Dealing with health issues seems to be a theme here... been doing that, too. I've had more medical appointments in the last 9 months than in the prior decade. It's been an expensive year. :P

Not even going to discuss feline misbehaviors here today....

Alive, had my second vaccination as of the 24th of April, no real side effects worth mentioning, mental health carrying on with treatment!

Congratulations on your vaccinations!  I'm thrilled to hear it

Good on both counts. Glad to see you back. :)

My apologies,  DM, but how many enemies are near me?

There's one near you, currently grappling Volsh, but you can see (and hear) more outside the door, in the thickening mist.

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 343):

What's the penalty to attack the one on Volsh?

Let's say -4 to attack, with a possibility of hitting Volsh if you miss. You could also try to pull the undead off of him, cut at the netting, or something else.

Strength check to try to pull the undead off?

Yup, that'll work!

What's near me?

At the moment, no foes.  But there's been some flares of fire and you've heard Haazheel casting outside, plus Volsh just ran out there with Thunder and is attacking someone, so you could be within attacking range with a move action.

Gotcha

Is the undead I stabbed not moving or has it just been knocked prone?

Prone, not quite re-dead yet. :D

I have a surgery on Monday, with an overnight stay in the hospital. Not real sure what condition I'll be in when I go home, with a hole in my back and a drainage tube. While I have enough data to check in, I don't have enough to really post, and might not be up to going to my friend's to use her internet for a bit. So, NPC Dante as needed to keep the game moving, please.  :)

Hope it all goes well for you

We're here if you need to vent

Best wishes for your surgery.

Thanks for the good wishes. :) The surgery, I'm told, went well. I think the worst part was not being left sedated enough, between when the tube was put into my back in the morning, and the actual surgery in the afternoon. Now I know a personal phobia will cause a panic attack. I'd rather it remained merely a strong suspicion. :P That information goes into my "need to warn the doctor about this" notes, along with my various drug allergies. Bleah.

On the plus side, they didn't make me go home with the tube still in my back after all, so my healing is ahead of where I'd expected it to be. I just need to remember to stay very good friends with the naproxen, especially if I leave home for any reason. (Today is my second venture out, and it's going better, keeping that in mind!)