And so, a new thread begins...

For the new players, I'd like you to think about the following items/questions as we prepare to begin the next adventure.

The people of Elsir Vale suffered a lot of damage during the Red Hand's failed conquest. The Red Hand completely sacked the villages of Drellin's Ferry, Terrelton, Nimon Gap, Talar, Dauth, and Prosser prior to being defeated during the Battle of Brindol.

Even still, the city of Brindol did not escape unscathed. Brindol was set ablaze by a red dragon, crushed by boulders thrown by giants, and pillaged by hobgoblins who spilled into the city streets.

Think about where your character was three years ago when this occurred. Did you character participate in the war? Did they lose loved ones? Did they flee before the horde arrived (many did)?

It's now been three years since the war ended. The hobgoblins have not re-emerged and initiated any attacks against Elsir Vale. Some say the threat as passed. Why would your character want to seek out the warlord responsible for all that destruction? Isn't it best to let sleeping wyrmlords lie?

Next, I want you to think about possible character connections between other characters. You don't have to know other characters already, but it sure makes it a lot easier than having a group of strangers form up for adventure.

Eoni, Sarah, and Vaxfar already have an established pre-war connection. I recommend you think about how you know eachother, if at all, and use this OOC thread to estabish some connections.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:36, Tue 21 July 2020.

Dergan is such that he is quick to form bonds, however, I have added to his history this bit, if anyone wants to tap into parts of it so we have some past association, please feel free.

Other Notes:   A man of the East, Dengar has travelled much of his life since he
was old enough to go on his own.  His early days saw him using his size and muscle
to make a living, as a assistant builder, a laborer, even working in a quarry for
awhile.  He learned to use a sword when he signed aboard a working boat, it turned
out to be a smugglers vessel, and sometime raider.  He enjoyed his days upon the water
but they were eventually caught by the local navy.  Dergan spent a few months working
in a labor camp for it, but got off pretty easy in the long run.  Deciding it was time
to start anew, he joined on with a caravan heading west, and ended up in Dennovar.
A city he took to liking and with the large water nearby, he had skills with boats
that gave him easy access to work.  This time, he signed on with the local guard,
that helped to protect and regulate the vessels upon Lake Ern.  During the war,
soldiers were called up from Dennovar to support other towns, Drellin's Ferry needed
men who knew something around water and it was there that Dengar fought in the
great war.  A pitched battle was fought to hold the river, but they were quickly
overwhelmed.  Dengar himself, bloodied and weary fell into the deep currents and
nearly drowned.  He survived and spent days after that fighting alongside small
groups of survivors, doing what they could to harry the enemy upon their flanks.
He saw many dark things during those days, but is not one to dwell long on the
past.  But he has no love for the Red Hand.

Everyone welcome Ovo to the game! He's finishing up character creation now, but is well on the way.

Thanks, DM Pawn! Hey everyone! Just wanted to stop by and say hello. I will be playing Ovo, who's cropped beard shows he is an outcast or Clanless Dwarf. Since leaving his Hold in The Hammerfist Mountains Ovo has become an Axe For Hire or mercenary. He fought on the right side in the great war, but first for coin and then for survival.

He first sold his axe in the defense of Dauth just north of the Hammerfists. Galadan Ryethresher's gold and the Council of Elders' approval bought that sleepy little hamlet Ovo's axe and the people thereof time to escape to Brindol. The small force was easily defeated by The Red Hand but Ovo and a few men cut their way through and joined other bands of likewise defeated and fleeing men-at-arms, which harassed the advancing scouts of The Red Hand all the way to Brindol.

Hey Dergan! Maybe we fought together and made it to Brindol together? Or at least fought side by side for a while. Ovo did not fight with Eoni, Sarah, Valthur, Vaxfar, and Kane but knows they are all The Heroes of Brindol! Perhaps later, after the war, Ovo has assisted Valthur Ironhelm in some way and he has given Ovo a letter of introduction to Eoni, Sarah, and Vaxfar.

Just suggestions on my part. I will be happy to edit, modify, or add to it if anyone has any ideas. I look forward to writing with you all. Cheers :)
This message was last edited by the player at 02:56, Wed 22 July 2020.

Let's say in the chaos of the war and fighting retreat, Ovo and Dergan fought together.  Split by fates, but for a time, comrades against a common foe.  Never knowing if the other survived,
but at the very least, having raised axe, sword, and shield together.

Just for Dergen's reference on Drellin's Ferry, the first post of Chapter 9: The Elsir War Begins... describes the Vale's first encounter with the Army of the Red Hand.

---

Floyd Hammerfist, Prince of Hammerfist Holds

     - Valthur Ironhelm

Sounds good to me! Look forward to writing with you Nyrmer (Axefriend or Brother)! Cheers :)

Thanks for this Eoni! I have been following the game but my memory is not what it use to be, so I will go back and reread.

Floyd Hammerfist?!?!? I hate that guy!- Valthur Ironhelm

So does Ovo, maybe why Ovo and Valthur get along. Cheer :)

I think Dergan and Ovo's connection is a good start.

Perhaps when Valthur received The Trailblazer's message about The Fane of Tiamat, he passed this along to his acquaintance/distant relation, Ovo.

An easy possible connection is to have either Dergan or Ovo know Elam, perhaps from a past adventure where they required the skill of a wizard?

This would link the three newbies to Trailblazers (Eoni, Sarah, and Vaxfar), through Ovo, by way of Valthur.

Thoughts?

I think that would work well. Better than just a letter of introduction. I think it will depend on Elam's background. Is Elam a mercenary of sorts? Did he fight or flee from the Red Hand during the war? If so he could have met Ovo and Dergan as they did the same. If not Ovo did spend some time in Brindol after the war. Or maybe Elam hired Ovo or Dergan for extra muscle during an adventure and they remembered the mage when it came to this adventure. Just some ideas. Cheers :)

While Elam is not opposed to hiring out his magical skills, it is challenging because his skin condition tends to make people avoid him. It would make more sense that he hired some meatheads muscle to protect him on various adventurers of his own, you know "gathering components for his research" (from dangerous beast most likely). Assuming Ovo or Dergan are the types of mercenaries that are more interested in the pay and adventure than the condition and oddities of the mage that hired them.

It also makes sense that Elam would have gravitated toward Brindol. Large settlements are easier to blend in than the small no name village from which he was more or less exiled from. Being one of the largest settlements in the vale, I would assume there might be a larger library or academy here.

The Brindol Academy is the most prestigious place of learning in the entire Elsir Vale. The academy offers courses in history, magical theory, geography, alchemy, engineering, and culture. Its headmaster is a no-nonsense matron named Damynda Rianthar. So this could have drawn Elam to the city.

Then at some point, perhap he met Ovo and Dergen, as you suggested.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:56, Wed 22 July 2020.

Ovo would not mind Elam's condition as long as the mage kept his end of the bargain and was honest. Dwarves are mistrustful of magic but Ovo also knows it has its uses. He being clanless and outcast himself makes him even more approachable. So Ovo would have worked with him/ for him. Cheers :)

So Ovo and Dergan fought together a few times during the war and afterwards crossed paths a few times, so they know each other from the past.

Ovo has worked for Elam a few times and knows him from past work.

Sounds good to me. At least it's not total strangers all around :)

All that works for me if everyone else is satisfied. I look forward to it! Cheers :)

Since we're coming out of a 10-month or so hiatus, have new players (to the group at least), and are continuing with what I hope will be a thrilling conclusion to the Elsir War saga...let's re-do player introductions. Please share as much as you're comfortable with, but I find it helps create a better game if it's not a group of random strangers.

Hello everyone and welcome!

My name is Shane and I will be your DM for what I hope will be a very fun game. I am 48 years old, married, with two kids (ages 13 and 12). I am an Air Force weather forecaster and currently stationed in Texas. Aside from RPGs, some of my other interests include: cycling, reading, playing guitar and ukulele, and camping.

I started playing RPGs in 1984 and have been involved with the hobby on-and-off since then. I have played many different games and genres, but D&D type games have always been my favorite. The very first game I played was 1st edition AD&D and it left a huge impression on me. I have played or DM'd every version of D&D (and several variants) and tend to prefer more rules-lite versions of the game, as I am not really that interested in mechanics, character builds and that sort of thing. What draws me in is storytelling, not really the rules.

Most of my gaming experience is as a DM. My DMing experience runs the gamut, from traditional around the table, real-time text-based chat games, play-by-email, play-by-post and online voice/video games (e.g., Roll20, Skype, Discord, etc). I started doing play-by-post in 2009 after moving to New Mexico and not being able to find anyone to play with locally. I discovered I greatly enjoyed the medium and have run and completed several games since then. I took a break from RPoL over the past year, after getting burnt-out, and to focus more on my tabletop 5e Tomb of Annihilation game (which we completed last year!) and to spend more time reading.

Game History:
We wrapped up this game last September, after a solid, continuous run of about 3 years. For reference, this game was designed as a one-shot lark--not a campaign. We completed that first adventure in about 4 months, decided chemistry was good, everyone was having fun, and started another adventure. At some point, the one shot adventure morphed into an attempt to run a conversion of a 3rd edition super adventure, and that's what we've been doing. Except I ran out of steam last year and needed a break.

Which kind of sucked, because there was one final piece I wanted to explore, but just didn't have the energy to make it happen. Until now.

Which is how we end up delving into the Fane of Tiamat.

I think it will take about a year to complete, but it's hard to tell with PbP.

At any rate, please feel free to introduce yourself and share what you feel comfortable sharing. Lastly, I look forward to gaming with each of you and working together to create a fun, compelling conclusion to the Elsir War saga.

:)

Shane
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:45, Thu 23 July 2020.

Hello everyone! Shane thanks for having me here and my fellow players, I am very much looking forward to writing and gaming with you all. My name is Brian. I am 60 years old, married, and have two boys (ages 23 and 21). To my surprise both my boys love RPG and various board/ computer games. I have had the pleasure of running games for my boys and playing in a game run by my oldest son.

I started playing D&D around 1980 using Holmes Basic. I loved it! I have played every version since except 4E. I began running games here on RPLO around 2010. I have mostly DMed so getting to play in a game is a very nice change of pace. As far as this game goes, I have been following it since its beginning. I am really happy to be here and I am looking forward to writing and gaming with you all.

I work in Health Care so having this diversion in this challenging time is wonderful. I love reading, doing meditation, Tia Chi, Wing Chung, hiking, and biking. So again, thank you Shane for having me here and I am really looking forward to writing with you all. It has been a very fun game to read along with and I know I will enjoy playing in it! Cheers :)

Been playing about as long as Shane and started with the red basic book and actually still have the dice (now heavily worn) that came with the boxed set.  Played a number of different games and genres throughout the years including Classic Traveller and Lords of Creation.

I enjoy games that are more than just hack and slash that allow characters to go off the rails to do what they think is right rather than what they're "supposed" to be doing.  I also prefer to avoid the metagaming and keep the game in character.

Currently living in Central New York but I've lived as far west as Fort Huachuca Arizona with some time working on a dude ranch in the Grand Tetons of Wyoming and a real life job in Boulder, Colorado.

Greetings to some, hello again to others:

My name is Steve; I'm 55 and live in Kansas City, MO.  I have two adult children, two teenaged step-grandchildren, and a nearly 6 year old grandchild.  I am a lawyer; I work for a federal judge, and teach part-time at the Univ. of MO - Kansas City School of Law.  I enjoy games of all sorts; other hobbies include and tae kwon do and watching movies and sports.

I began playing D&D in the late 1970s, and our primary game was First Edition, pre-Unearthed Arcana.  We also played (in the versions that existed at the time) Runequest, Rolemaster, and Paranoia, along with others here and there on an experimental basis.  I have dabbled with some of the "newer" games on RPoL, and play a tabletop game of Pathfinder every three weeks or so.

Fun Fact: Vaxfar and I have known each other since Junior High School.  We split the cost of the PHB and DMG way back when; he currently has physical custody of those books.

That is a cool fact! Do you have weekend custody?

My fun fact is I bought the 1st edition PHB with rolls of pennies I stole from my Mom's penny jar (one of those big glass water cooler jugs). I also used pilfered pennies to pay for the city bus to get the hobby shop. The only problem?  After I bought the PHB, I didn't have enough money left to take the bus, so I walked home instead (~ 5 miles). But the best part? On the way home, I found a DMG sitting on a bench at a bus stop...nobody around! Talk about total dumb luck!!!

I snagged it and walked home with a spring in my step!

It would be several more months before the penny jar filled back up to a point where I thought I could get away with pilfering again, but eventually, the MM joined the collection. Then, that Christmas, my Mom bought me the Basic and Expert D&D boxed sets!
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:40, Thu 23 July 2020.

No, but to be fair I had them in my custody for far longer than he has.  And he has probably put them to better use than I did.

It is very cool to see so many with similar ages, several fellow martial artists, and naturally D&D lovers... Love it!

Name is Chris. I'm 48 now. My wife and I are married 21 years next week. We have 4 daughters (35,34,33,19... or there about. The 3 oldest are from her first marriage, but just look at my bank account and you will know they are my kids. Our 3rd grandchild was born less than a month ago. The others are 5 and 3.

I'm an IT Director for the world's leading chemical distribution company an am responsible for all Data Center and Network Operations across North America and chair our Global Infrastructure Board. When work and family aren't consuming my time, I enjoy training kung fu with my 19 yr old, shooting defensive handguns, and an sort of adrenaline type activity  (racing cars, hang gliding, bungie jumping, etc.).

Started D&D in 1983 when I received 2 copies of Mentzer's Basic Set and have been hooked ever since. I actually have several copies now, but still have one of those gifted sets, including dice. Stepped away from it during my explorative years, and then got in to high end competitive gaming for a bit. Now I focus mainly on RPoL and some Roll20 as I find it much easier to fit in on my chaotic schedule.

Looking forward to rolling some virtual dice with you all and creating an epic finale to what sounds like one of the best campaigns on RPoL ever! :)

What games have you run for your boys and what game did your son run when you were a player?

I have been trying to convince my kids to take up GM duties, but they have been reluctant. I think it's mostly a confidence thing. Both have been playing RPGs for the past 8 years, so it's not like they don't know how it works.

If I remember correctly, the Basic D&D set came with soft dice and the d20's edges eventually rounded away such that the die would roll and roll and roll and roll...

Pardon my ignorance...what is high end competitive gaming?

Yes, the dice were made from a soft plastic. Numbers were uncolored and you had to color them in with a crayon... I still have part of that as well. Mine are actually in pretty nice shape. https://lh3.google.com/u/0/d/1...UsTj=w2560-h1297-iv1

I am sure you can figure out which one of the 2 is the original gifted copy on my shelf... LOL
https://lh3.google.com/u/0/d/1...5mPO=w2005-h1297-iv1


As for competitive gaming, it was primarily in the MMORPG-era. In 1998 I got swept up playing Everquest and ended up getting involved with a guild that was focused on accomplishing Server First (and sometimes World First) events. They're most famous for being the first to "Awaken the Sleeper" in Everquest.



This was pretty big deal because back then, if your character died, not only did you lose XP, but the corpse remained at the location with all of your gear. You would need to either have a backup set of gear in the bank, or try to retrieve your stuff naked... Raids back then were also major events of 72 people that took many hours, sometimes days to complete. And it was not uncommon for an entire raid to wipe, and you would need to take the time to recover everyone's stuff before you could attempt to continue. It took a lot of dedication and coordination to say the least. The sleeper fight above took ~200 people and more than 3 hours alone, not including all the clearing and stuff that had to happen before getting to that point.

In 2001, I got laid off when Lucent sent most of their microchip manufacturing to Hong Kong and had the fortune (good or bad depends on your point of view) to stay home with our newborn daughter. That is when I really started going down the gaming rabbit hole... running multiple accounts on multiple pc's with a linux servers to sniff the network traffic coming from their servers to find out what creatures were up in each zone, what loot they had, running raids, etc. Here is my now 19 yo daughter sitting in my ghetto command center back then. https://lh3.google.com/u/0/d/1...AU3wi=w1920-h937-iv1


We branched out in to other MMORPG games. I think we reached the #10 ranked World of Warcraft guild world-wide at one point. WOW, Vanguard, EVE Online, Warhammer, etc. pick one we were there and often with early Alpha access.  It was neat to have direct communication with developers to help with testing, etc. Hell, I even had one developer include a gag gift in one of my pre-orders... anti-fungal foot cream (wtf? lol)... no idea why, but was fun times for sure.

As you can imagine, all of this took up more time then a full time job and it really put a strain on my marriage. Eventually, I smartened up and put the gaming behind me to focus on my family & career and life is much better for that! I am happy to say that my wife is now able joke about it with me. We see all these streamers making millions playing video games and she will bust my ass that I missed my calling and if I would have been bringing in that kind of $$ she would not have minded as much. LOL

In reply to Elam (msg # 27):

Ah! Thanks for the explanation.

MMOs were one rabbit hole I never went down. The closest I came to that realm was when I developed content for a Neverwinter Nights persistent world server circa ~2002-2004. Never played any of the games you mentioned, but of course I am familiar with them. My hardcore PC gamer friends played all those games and would talk about them often...usually trying to rope me into that world. But, at the time, I was trying to finish up college while working full time and didn't need any distractions. :)

Thanks for sharing the story and the pics though, very cool!

In reply to Sarah (msg # 23):

Is it really a fun fact, or just a fact?  I think the custody arrangement was a decade at a time.

Yes, Steve and I have been good friends since Junior High.  He roped me into several things (mostly to my benefit) including debating and D&D.

My name is Arjun.  I'm an intellectual property lawyer with 2 adult children (19,21) who are almost done with college.  I too enjoy games of all sorts like board games and cards (including bridge).  I cycle, golf and bowl (that's on hold for a while).

Nice to meet everyone.

In reply to DM Pawn (msg # 25):

Hey! Well, my boys started D&D late though I played off and on throughout. My oldest, I think, got his interests piqued just looking through some of my rule books and sourcebooks. We had played many board games like Talisman, Risk, Munchkin Quest, and Blood Bowl for years as they grew up. It was not until my oldest went to college and met like-minded friends that he started playing D&D 5th ED. Then he started DMing and crafted his own campaign world with maps. My younger son was invited to join him and he loved it. When they came home my oldest would DM one-shots for us. Eventually, I ran a few of these for them during the summer, except I used Orginal D&D/ Holmes Basic which they surprisingly they loved.

We now play whenever we can including a lot of those old board games. The boys and I have a Blood Bowl League going on right now, which I am failing miserably. Cheers :)
This message was last edited by the player at 20:56, Thu 23 July 2020.

I was greatly tempted to pick up Blood Bowl again a few years ago after seeing an advertisement in a local game store for a new league that was forming.

I played it, and DungeonBowl, pretty heavily in the late 80s and then again in the late 90s (different edition). Great times and some of my funnest gaming moments are wrapped up in that game.

I usually played human teams when I was trying to win, but my more memorable team was a halfling team that lost far more than they won. But man, when they won, talk about stuff for the ages!

My name is Eustace Conway, you may have seen me on History Channel's show the Mountain Men.  If you've seen the show, you know all about me.

Okay, that was a bit of role playing.  My name is Robbie, and not a week used to go by that I wasn't stopped and sometimes pestered by people thinking I was Eustace Conway.  I'm his doppleganger.  Even now in pandemic,  when I go almost no where ever,  I get it a couple times a month at the gas station, and even once today when my wife and I hiked up into the mountains to a beautiful waterfall.

I'm 54, Director of Housing for a retirement community, and the past months have been nothing but protecting our seniors from the virus.  So far, not a case.   l also have my own company and buy and rent out houses.  We live in a college town.  I have 5 such homes now.

I've played D&D since, I believe 1977.  Played it ever since but pretty much have stuck to Basic, 1st, 2nd editions.  Although, I'm learning 5e because both my nieces, with no help from their uncle Rob discovered they loved d&d.  After college, I had no one to tabletop with and went exclusively online with pbem and then rpol.  I love the format.  It gives me a creative thing to do and at times when I can manage it.    Apparently now, the cool kids, and pretty girls play.  Well, not that we weren't cool, its just no one realized it at the time.  I have no children other than the furry type.  I live on a small farm with 10 goats, 80 chickens, 7 dogs, 2 cats, and five pet rats.

I hike (its a love / hate thing), but I do it.  I enjoy shooting darts, cooking, watching good movies/tv, and Broadway.  I've acted in several local shows, and though it scares the heck out me everytime, I'm hooked.

I have village house in a small rural medieval town in France that I bought and my wife and I are renovating and plan to retire there at least part time when I can retire.  If we are ever allowed to travel or enter France again.  The front door looks directly down a small ancient street to a Norman Castle.  It is called the Chateau de Lassay, it is quite a sight!

I have learned to enjoy DM'ing more as I've aged, but love a long game with real personality type characters.  Looking forward to playing alongside you all.

Just so we don't stall at the beginning with the new folks, this is probably the time where your character might step forward and pledge their undying loyalty to Dame Daflin and her foolhardy quest.

Or if you had other plans, please let the DM know in a PM so that he won't be waiting on you before he empties out the room with no takers.

In reply to Eoni Daflin (msg # 33):

My bad, I did not know it was a scene for everyone. I thought it was just Eoni's and Vaxfar's intro scene. I will post tomorrow as it is late here. However, Dergan and Elam, do we want to arrive together then? I guess we came from Brindol to pledge our sword, axe, and spells to Eoni with Valthur's blessing. Does that sound good to you both? Again, sorry as I was waiting for the go-ahead and missed it I guess. Cheers :)

No. Sorry, I wasn't more explicit that this was your intro scene. It's exactly as Eoni describes--your entry point into the game.

I don't want to linger to long here in the "getting to know you" phase (side note: I really don't like starting games with tavern chatter that doesn't move the story forward), but figured we needed to at least provide a quick entrance before jumping to action.

I toyed with just hand-waving the group getting together and restarting with "Roll for Initiative" but decided against it at the last moment.

Maybe I should have gone with that...

And just so it is abundantly clear...

Dergan, Elam, and Ovo are already in the audience hall and just heard everything that went down.

"You had me at foolhardy quest."

"Certainty of death, *small* chance of success... What are we waiting for?"

-- Gimli, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Man! I was just going to use that line!

I should've left it for you, it having been spoken by your kin. :)

In reply to Sarah (msg # 40):

No worries! Ovo is foolhardy himself... that and he only has 6gpc's to his name. He's going alright! Cheers :)

P.S. I am working on a post now. Elam and Dergan, Ovo is stepping forward but he will say others have traveled with him in case the "all of us arrived together" is cool with you all. :)

Just got home from kung fu. Will post Elam's abrasive charming entrance momentarily.:p

Hey there! Loved your posts, everyone! I am really looking forward to this game and writing with you all. It is late and I must get some sleep. Thanks again Shane for this wonderful game! Good night all! Cheers :)

If folks want to post, but won't be able to post for a day, hours, minutes, let us know so we can slow our role.  It's fast and furious right now because everyone's hopped up on new game smell and Eoni will drive the bus as fast as Shane will let her.

Heh . . . "new game smell" .  .  . I like the phrase.

Re: new game smell

Although this game isn't exactly new at this point, but yeah, there's a lot of enthusiasm when games first launch. It's one of the reasons I don't join or run games with very large casts. Six players is the upper limit, with four to five being ideal.

As far as outfitting goes, you may purchase anything from the standard equipment list at normal prices. We will assume everything will be available within Drellin's Ferry (town ~ 1,000 people).

Please outfit on your own--no need to devote game time to mundane activities.

Ovo did have a question for his new girlfriend about captaincy.  _{I just had to look up that word because I didn't get spell checked on what I thought was a creative spelling.}

But about the supplies.  Having spent three years in all four seasons of the Wyrmsmoke, can we say that Vaxfar and Eoni are well versed in what they found useful and what they didn't?

"Ovo, put that ten foot pole back, you're going to poke someone's eye out."

Rather than a piecemeal approach to purchasing group supplies using a shared Google spreadsheet, can we just say it's going to cost 250gp to purchase fresh and preserved food for the expected journey, waterskins, cold weather gear, inclement weather gear, bedrolls, tents, lanterns, oil, rope, first aid bandages, cooking gear, a latrine shovel, a backup latrine shovel, and enough donkeys and tack to pack it all into the mountains?

"Dergen, I just told Ovo to put that back.  Put it back."

Would it also be feasible to get a guard dog to help keep watch at night since their numbers are so few?  This is more of a, "Hi, my name's Shane and I'd really prefer not to keep track of fido the whole time.  I know you say you'll walk it and feed it and clean up after it, but in the end, I know it's going to be me doing all the extra work."

"Elam, I can see you.  Put it back.  Now."

Sure. That works for me.



Sure. Let's assume Grub already has a scruffy brown dog. Her name is Murphy and she likes ear scratches and big, meaty bones. The kind that are so big she sometimes has difficult getting through doorways with them in her mouth.

Yep! It's always fun and games until somebody puts their eyes out with a ten foot pole! LOL

BTW: I have communicated to Shane what I'm doing, so have no concern that I'm being left behind.

I was wondering about that... but from reading I thought you might be sneaking around. Look forward to writing with you! Cheers :)


PS

Vaxfar and Elam, if we are moving too fast let us know. We do not wish to leave you guys behind either. :)

Elam isn't the charismatic type, so he has not desire to join in the conversation, but now that it's done, I've spoken up :)

Checks inventory, has no ten foot pole, what are talking about???

Just did some quick gear calculations and 250 gp will not be enough to outfit this expedition.

Assuming no delays, the journey to/from the Fane will take 1 week. Three days on good roads (Dawn Way) and four days on a broken trail that runs along a rocky wash (Wyrmwash). So that's two weeks round trip just to get there, say "Eureka!", turn back and go home.

Let's assume you keep costs down by purchasing 1-week of perishable standard rations for the trip there. 10 people x 5 gp each = 50 gp

The return trip you will have to upgrade to 1-week of iron rations, unless you want to eat rotten food.
10 people x 15 gp = 150 gp

You're already at 200 gp and you just have enough food to get there and back. Maybe you can make it in and out of the Fane the same day you arrive? Probably not.

The other items:
10 waterskins = 10 gp
Inclement Weather Gear (Cold Weather Gear not needed--it's summer and warm/hot) = 20 gp
Bedrolls = 10 gp
4-person tents x 3 = 10 gp
10 Flasks of Oil = 20 gp
100 feet of rope = 2 gp
2 lanterns = 20 gp

Mules are probably your best best for pack animals.
Each mule will cost 30 gp + 30 gp for its pack, tack, and saddle = 60 gp each.

You probably need at least 4 miles to haul all this stuff = 240 gp

So, we're looking at 532 gp for just the stuff listed above, which assumes you only need food to get there and back.

The four retainers are also owed 300 gp, up front, as advance on future treasure shares.

Total expenses: 832 gp

Yeesh. Wyrmlord hunting is expensive business!
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:24, Sun 26 July 2020.

Ovo has a water-skin, bedroll, and 6 days of the nonperishable rations. Maybe others do too but I see what you're saying. Maybe we will have to go on an adventure just to afford the adventure. Cheers :)

We're not hurting for gold as far as my character sheet is aware.  Let's round it up to 850gp and I'll cross it off.  Strangely, Eoni's pack doesn't feel any lighter.

Also, are Dergen and Elam waiving their advance as well?  Nothing they need to buy for 75gp?  One last really good night on the town?

Will post in detail shortly. Elam has some things already and a decent count of gold saved.

Dergan will waive his fee.  Are there any shops in town that sell potions or other such items, I reckon we could use anything we can afford.

I will put some this in to an IC post, but easier to go over details here in OOC.

Elam has the following already in inventory:

Hooded Lantern
Oil Flask
Iron Rations (1 week)
Waterskin


Elam does not want to be indebted to anyone or even feel as if he is, so no advanced retainer needed, and he will pay for his own supplies and one of the mules.

 1gp :: Bedroll
 5gp :: Std Rations (1 week) - for journey there
15gp :: Iron Rations (1 week) - this is a buffer
60gp :: Mule w/ pack, saddle, etc.
81gp

I will deduct that from my balance, and Eoni can add it to hers.

---

Couple other questions/comments:

1. What is the party composition class-wise?

2. Elam knows Continual Light, so lanterns are not always necessary (as could a cleric), but it is not the most subtle or controllable source of light in situations where minimal light is desired for a stealthier approach.

3. I will explain some of Elam's spells IC, as they can be factored in to our strategic plans, but here they are in short form and easy reference.

Spell Book
1st: Read Magic, Charm Person, Detect Magic, Magic Missile, Shield, Sleep
2nd: Continual Light*, Mirror Image, Phantasmal Force, Web, Wizard Lock
3rd: Dispel Magic, Fireball, Haste*, Invisibility 10'

The first thread in the game has the party composition and levels.

You can suggest Continual Light IC.

In the past, we haven't used any prepared strategies.  Avandra is a Goddess of Luck after all.

There is an alchemist/quack in town named Ologeon who will sell the following potions:

Healing (1d6+1): 200 gp each
Extra Healing (2d6+2): 400 gp each

Otherwise, there are no "MagicMarts" to speak of (that the characters have found at least) anywhere in Elsir Vale.

Cleric
Fighter
Thief
Magic-User
Dwarf
Elf

+ 4 Retainers of unknown skill and 1 guard dog

Thank you both!

Ovo is quite poor. He has only 6gpc to his name. He has the following including weapons:

Battle Axe
Hand Axe
Silver Dagger
Heavy Crossbow
10 Bolts
Wine-skin
Bedroll
Tender n' Steel
Backpack
5 days of Preserved Rations
Banded Mail
Helmet
Shield

As an aside, we are using a House Rule for Spontaneous Casting if Elam wishes.  It's not required.

Cleric, Elf and Magic User Spells: This game will use spontaneous casting, i.e., no need to prepare specific spells ahead of time. If you know the spell and have an unused spell slot, you can cast the spell.

Well shit, no wonder there was little planning needed! Thanks.

edited my post to reflect said house rule and instead emphasize my need to be judicious in when to use my spells

Yeah. I was never really a fan of Vancian casting and have always just used spontaneous casting. If you want the challenge of memorizing spells, you are welcome to go that route, but it's not required.

In reply to Ovo Goldenshield (msg # 52):

I’m fine with the pace and enthusiasm!  More things for the newer characters to take care of.

Nah, makes me all the more useful. Nothing worse than preparing Haste & Fireball and realizing how useful Dispel Magic would be to get past a ward or something.

This also prompted me to re-read the rest of your House Rules and apply the Saving Throw bonuses/penalties.

If everyone's talked out, we can jot down our recent individual purchases and move to our early morning departure and travel montage.

Dergan has spent all his money and updated his character sheet to reflect it.  Broke and ready to go.

I've also already updated my char sheet with the purchases Elam committed to and subtracted the gold. I am fine with cutting to the morning departure.

As long as we see to the healing potions as best we can, I'm ready! :)

So everyone knows my intent with travel scenes, normally I montage overland travel a la Indiana Jones style (i.e., the red line crawling across the map, skipping over the mundane) and that's what will happen here.

However, we do need to roleplay out (as briefly as you wish) the first day's travel for story reasons. We can banter as much as we want here, and it's been great, but let me know as soon as you're all bantered-out and we will skip forward to the next scene.

Thanks!

Shane

Eoni's done.  I think we just need Ovo and Elam to wrap up their rap.

Anyone else seeing a bunch of blank posts?

In reply to Elam (msg # 79):

There's some private messaging going on between a few players, outside of everyone else's earshot.

I see why I do not see what I cannot hear... lol.

Thanks.

Also note that the side conversation shouldn't derail Ovo's discussion of the watch rotation with Dame Daflin.

I'm sorry, I feel bad that I've kinda hijacked/waylaid things.  But someone said something that is a "trigger topic" for Sarah.

It's her fault, not mine! :)

I assure you she (and I) are not like this all the time.  The drama will pass.

Oh no! I think it is great and I am loving both the writing and roleplaying. It is what you would expect from folks who do not know each other very well. No apologies required. Cheers :)

I agree, I prefer role playing to roll playing anyday.   When I created Dergan's past, I had not read much of the backlog of posts, however, have since realized that Sarah might have reason not to like or trust a man of arms from Dennovar.  Also, at times, you may scratch your head by Dergan's lack of social grace, childish behavior, or plain lack of understanding situations.  He has a very low INT score, so I'm playing it best I can.

Thanks for the support!!
This message was last edited by the player at 20:30, Fri 31 July 2020.

pm

PM

In reply to DM Pawn (msg # 88):

Woof, woof

pm

Just so everyone, and especially Eoni and Vaxfar, is clear on approximate geographic location, the party is currently about 3 days' travel south of the trail leading to the Fane of Tiamat.

Great job on the roleplay everyone. Your posts are providing a strong sense of your characters' personalities and have been enjoyable to read and build off of!
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:31, Sun 02 Aug 2020.

In reply to DM Pawn (msg # 92):

Thanks for the kind words and for inspiring us with such a great game! :)

Thanks, Shane.

I put a lot of thought into Sarah originally, and again now to determine how and why she's changed in the passing years.  Thanks for the opportunity to play it out.

Agreed.   Thanks, Shane and the group.  Really enjoying the game and interaction.

I am not clear on what the group is attempting to do right now, specifically Vaxfar and Sarah's actions. Is the intent to try to follow the hobgoblins to wherever they are going? Find a way to avoid them? Go around and find a campsite nearby?

The IC thread has mixed information and I need a better understanding to resolve actions.

What I understood from Eoni's directions is: both.

I understood she wanted Vaxfar to follow them to the camp so we'd know where it was.

And I'm to find a way past/around the watering hole, if possible, so we can camp on the other side of it.

And if it all goes south, they will come up and we'll try to eliminate the water gatherers.

Yes, I think Sarah has that right. Ovo, and hopefully others, moved up closer but still out of sight in case Sarah is spotted and needs help. Our decision was to let the Hobgobs leave without a fight unless they see/ hear us. Cheers :)

Just want to make sure I am clear on marching order:

Sarah and Vaxfar scouting invisibly ahead of the main party (?)

Dergan and Laurenbeth in the front (?)

Elam, Eoni, and Ovo in the middle, with the mules (?)

Grub, Rogar, Shmee, and Murphy in the rear (?)

Hey there!

This is what Ovo recommended in msg #96:

Vaxfar and Sarah scouting head like the day before. Invisibility was suggested but maybe no due to communication problems... it will be up to them.

Ovo and Dregan will be on point/ out in front.
Grub, Elam, Eoni, and Lakshmi in the middle w/ the mules
Rogar and Laurenbeth as rearguard.

Eoni has not chimed in on this though. I hope that helps.

I think that Vaxfar and I would likely be visible at the start.

The alternative is that one of us is invisible and talks the whole time so the other one knows where they are. :)  (Not meant to be a serious suggestion.)

By default, it seems dwarves become sergeants around Dame Daflin.  Unless otherwise noted, Ovo's organizational plans are blessed by Avandra.

The invisible one could annoyingly toss pebbles at the back of the others head to let them know they are there.. :)

Sarah and/or Vaxfar, how far ahead of the party are you going to range?

So that folks can have an idea if they can see what you're seeing.

Probably within eyesight, so we can signal you to stop if need be.  And, we would likely stop upon the discovery so that it could be discussed.

That's not a clear answer to your question, is it?  I'm open to suggestions re: a number.

Can I get d20 checks for anyone attempting to find a path forward that is not the Wyrmwash. Thanks

I'm not sure if this happens to everyone, but large pictures stretch my screen out so that I have to scroll every message to read to the edge.

If this is the case for everyone, perhaps resizing the image would make it easier to read the posts?

Yes. This has come up in other games as well. I found that if you use the new modern interface (r.rpol.net) the image gets resized automatically. The old interface does not and you get the horizontal scrolling effect.

In reply to Eoni Daflin (msg # 107):

Yeah. Sorry. I thought I had sized the pictures right for RPoL, but apparently not. Let me see if I can fix.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo. Nullam dictum felis eu pede mollis pretium. Integer tincidunt. Cras dapibus. Vivamus elementum semper nisi. Aenean vulputate eleifend tellus. Aenean leo ligula, porttitor eu, consequat vitae, eleifend ac, enim. Aliquam lorem ante, dapibus in, viverra quis, feugiat a, tellus. Phasellus viverra nulla ut metus varius laoreet. Quisque rutrum. Aenean imperdiet. Etiam ultricies nisi vel augue. Curabitur ullamcorper ultricies nisi. Nam eget dui. Etiam rhoncus. Maecenas tempus, tellus eget condimentum rhoncus, sem quam semper libero, sit amet adipiscing sem neque sed ipsum. Nam quam nunc, blandit vel, luctus pulvinar, hendrerit id, lorem. Maecenas nec odio et ante tincidunt tempus. Donec vitae sapien ut libero venenatis faucibus. Nullam quis ante. Etiam sit amet orci eget eros faucibus tincidunt. Duis leo. Sed fringilla mauris sit amet nibh. Donec sodales sagittis magna. Sed consequat, leo eget bibendum sodales, augue velit cursus nunc,
This message was last updated by the GM at 17:10, Fri 07 Aug 2020.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo. Nullam dictum felis eu pede mollis pretium. Integer tincidunt. Cras dapibus. Vivamus elementum semper nisi. Aenean vulputate eleifend tellus. Aenean leo ligula, porttitor eu, consequat vitae, eleifend ac, enim. Aliquam lorem ante, dapibus in, viverra quis, feugiat a, tellus. Phasellus viverra nulla ut metus varius laoreet. Quisque rutrum. Aenean imperdiet. Etiam ultricies nisi vel augue. Curabitur ullamcorper ultricies nisi. Nam eget dui. Etiam rhoncus. Maecenas tempus, tellus eget condimentum rhoncus, sem quam semper libero, sit amet adipiscing sem neque sed ipsum. Nam quam nunc, blandit vel, luctus pulvinar, hendrerit id, lorem. Maecenas nec odio et ante tincidunt tempus. Donec vitae sapien ut libero venenatis faucibus. Nullam quis ante. Etiam sit amet orci eget eros faucibus tincidunt. Duis leo. Sed fringilla mauris sit amet nibh. Donec sodales sagittis magna. Sed consequat, leo eget bibendum sodales, augue velit cursus nunc,

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo. Nullam dictum felis eu pede mollis pretium. Integer tincidunt. Cras dapibus. Vivamus elementum semper nisi. Aenean vulputate eleifend tellus. Aenean leo ligula, porttitor eu, consequat vitae, eleifend ac, enim. Aliquam lorem ante, dapibus in, viverra quis, feugiat a, tellus. Phasellus viverra nulla ut metus varius laoreet. Quisque rutrum. Aenean imperdiet. Etiam ultricies nisi vel augue. Curabitur ullamcorper ultricies nisi. Nam eget dui. Etiam rhoncus. Maecenas tempus, tellus eget condimentum rhoncus, sem quam semper libero, sit amet adipiscing sem neque sed ipsum. Nam quam nunc, blandit vel, luctus pulvinar, hendrerit id, lorem. Maecenas nec odio et ante tincidunt tempus. Donec vitae sapien ut libero venenatis faucibus. Nullam quis ante. Etiam sit amet orci eget eros faucibus tincidunt. Duis leo. Sed fringilla mauris sit amet nibh. Donec sodales sagittis magna. Sed consequat, leo eget bibendum sodales, augue velit cursus nunc,

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo. Nullam dictum felis eu pede mollis pretium. Integer tincidunt. Cras dapibus. Vivamus elementum semper nisi. Aenean vulputate eleifend tellus. Aenean leo ligula, porttitor eu, consequat vitae, eleifend ac, enim. Aliquam lorem ante, dapibus in, viverra quis, feugiat a, tellus. Phasellus viverra nulla ut metus varius laoreet. Quisque rutrum. Aenean imperdiet. Etiam ultricies nisi vel augue. Curabitur ullamcorper ultricies nisi. Nam eget dui. Etiam rhoncus. Maecenas tempus, tellus eget condimentum rhoncus, sem quam semper libero, sit amet adipiscing sem neque sed ipsum. Nam quam nunc, blandit vel, luctus pulvinar, hendrerit id, lorem. Maecenas nec odio et ante tincidunt tempus. Donec vitae sapien ut libero venenatis faucibus. Nullam quis ante. Etiam sit amet orci eget eros faucibus tincidunt. Duis leo. Sed fringilla mauris sit amet nibh. Donec sodales sagittis magna. Sed consequat, leo eget bibendum sodales, augue velit cursus nunc,

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo. Nullam dictum felis eu pede mollis pretium. Integer tincidunt. Cras dapibus. Vivamus elementum semper nisi. Aenean vulputate eleifend tellus. Aenean leo ligula, porttitor eu, consequat vitae, eleifend ac, enim. Aliquam lorem ante, dapibus in, viverra quis, feugiat a, tellus. Phasellus viverra nulla ut metus varius laoreet. Quisque rutrum. Aenean imperdiet. Etiam ultricies nisi vel augue. Curabitur ullamcorper ultricies nisi. Nam eget dui. Etiam rhoncus. Maecenas tempus, tellus eget condimentum rhoncus, sem quam semper libero, sit amet adipiscing sem neque sed ipsum. Nam quam nunc, blandit vel, luctus pulvinar, hendrerit id, lorem. Maecenas nec odio et ante tincidunt tempus. Donec vitae sapien ut libero venenatis faucibus. Nullam quis ante. Etiam sit amet orci eget eros faucibus tincidunt. Duis leo. Sed fringilla mauris sit amet nibh. Donec sodales sagittis magna. Sed consequat, leo eget bibendum sodales, augue velit cursus nunc,
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:14, Fri 07 Aug 2020.

Sorry about the spam dummy image posts. Please let me know, which if any of these image sizes causes to have to sidescroll to see all the text.

Also, please check the game thread and let me know if it is still messed up for you.

Thanks!

It looks like the 5" image and smaller will work fine.  Anything larger ran off the side of my screen.

I'd be interested in hearing what size other folks got to work on their screens.

I'm using 1024x768 on this laptop.

In reply to Eoni Daflin (msg # 116):

Thanks for the feedback. Definitely want to know what others are experiencing so I can optimize for the group.

My laptop is 1920x1080, 15" monitor, and none of the test images cause my screen to scroll.

The game thread looks great now.

Personally, they all work fine for me but I have a large 2560x1440 monitor

My laptop is also 1920x1280 and has no problem displaying

And on my phone they all seem to resize, even with the old rpol interface... which is really weird to me, but glad it is sorted out for everyone else now!

The new picture size in the game thread looks perfect now.  No scroll bar.  Super!

None of them scroll for me, all work fine

I suppose Shane will let us know how many people wake up and what they see before posting.

Can we get to our side of the bridge without coming out from cover?

Possible with a hide check, but otherwise not really.

If Sarah falls -- how would the party know?  :)

Maybe the violence of impact would make her visible . . .

Hopefully, this ends up being nothing but a rhetorical question.

Sarah: what are you attempting to do while invisible?

It is not clear to me from your posts what actions you are going to attempt, other than to look at a "path" to the cave. It's a straight climb, so no real path to speak of, but maybe I don't understand your intent.

My apologies.

Let's scout up the path to make sure there aren't surprises.  And, if time permits, while invisible I'll peer into the cave to see what can be seen.

Since I'm invisible, I'll focus on being quiet.

And not falling. I'll focus on that too.  :)

So, is the plan to hang tight until nightfall and then reassess the trapped door?

If so, are you going to do so where you're currently at, which is about 200 feet from the double-door, at the last piece of any cover before the trail emerges out onto the natural bridge and rocky ledge? Or, are you going to retreat further down the trail, back into the slot canyon and/or look for better cover?

Remember, I discovered the thieves can do something to magical traps. I have a slightly better than 50-50 chance with regular traps; I don't have the book accessible at the moment so I don't know if I have that same chance with magical traps or if it's lower.

Just so everyone's clear on Laurenbeth's outspokenness as a NPC...

When I randomly generated the retainers back in Drellin's Ferry, her stats and personality traits made it so it does not make sense for her to blindly follow orders, particularly those which she deems to be too risky. She actually has pretty high INT, WIS, and a decent CHA, so she's not dumb and certainly not afraid to voice her opinion.

All this to say, she is still an NPC, so ultimately the call is yours (as PCs) to make, but she and all the NPCs are still their own persons and will react accordingly.

In reply to DM Pawn (msg # 130):

No worries! I think it is great the NPC's have voices and state their wishes. It makes the setting and the adventure seem more real to life. I also do not wish to come across as antagonistic but roleplaying Ovo as I see him as also speaking his mind. If I go overboard please let me know. Everyone's enjoyment of the game is more important than me roleplaying Ovo the way I see him. By the way, I have really been enjoying the role play myself! Great job everyone. Thanks, DM Pawn for the great game! :)
This message was last edited by the player at 00:01, Sat 22 Aug 2020.

I agree that it's great.  In this case, I thought her point was extremely well-taken.

Again, actually.  She's two for two.

Can the folks at the rock cover actually see far enough in the dark to even see the bridge?  Infravision is 60'.

Good point. They can see to the bridge. It's 50 feet away. I am not sure about the cave but maybe not. :)

That could have come straight from a movie script!!  Made me smile.

Probably not well enough to pick out details

So the double doors and dragon statue are invisible to the group staying back.  They won't know if it's open until Sarah comes back to get them.

Or if there are sudden fireworks when it opens :)

Kinda what I was thinking.  A fireworks display could be in the offing . . .

Heads up: my posting availability will be limited to evening hours over the next two weeks. Thanks!

Shane

No worries! Post when you can. We'll be here. :)
This message was last edited by the player at 16:31, Mon 24 Aug 2020.

Had technical difficulties getting to RPoL the entire weekend. Will get an IC post up after work.

Technical difficulties were site wide over the weekend and only stabilized last night.

I suppose if Elam is sticking with Dergen and the lantern, he's walking as well.

Correct, Elam will stay a few steps behind the fighter with the lantern. Certainly not planning to rush to the front lines... or over the edge in to the darkness below.

Maybe it's not a dog; maybe it's in disguise, like the cat in Captain Marvel.

I'm amending my prediction; the dog is Tiamet.

I never liked that dog.

If its like the cat in Marvel, I hope its on our side !

Sorry for the lack of posts. Been a hectic few days. Hope I am not holding anything up :)

AS a reminder, Sarah is the only PC who has seen the creature in the southwest corner--line of sight is blocked by the open double doors, which open only to 90 degrees (they don't open all the way).

The only way to see the creature is by stepping into the foyer, which only Sara has done. Ovo just threw the doors open, but the hinges were well-oiled and didn't require him to put his weight into the door. The door practically opened on its own, so I assumed he didn't enter the room.

The dwarf is expendable.  Can she send the dog in?

Anyone can certainly try to send Murphy in, but we'll see whether she actually listens to anyone other than Grub, and what Grub has to say about any such attempts.

By the way, Grub is in the back and Murph is right at his side.

Thanks! Probably the only thing the party can agree on. LOL!

Eoni's AC should be 7 with Padded and the Ring of Protection.  I think she should also be at full HP unless she got shocked by the outer door.


edit:

While I'm at it...

Dergen and Ovo have THAC0 15.

Vaxfar has THAC0 16.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:32, Wed 02 Sept 2020.

I also suppose no one but Ovo and Sarah see the wyrverns moving, but all can see the 2 screechers.

I never saw any post indicating Ovo had entered the foyer. He pushed the door open, but that was it.

Maybe my description of the doors was confusing. The doors open inward, but do not open all the way, so they are not flush with the wall. Imagine the doors opening as follows:






       *      *
x      *      *       x
-------*      *--------
       |      |
       |      |
       |      |
       |      |



The asterix are the open double doors, opened all the way.
The x's are the wyvern zombies.
The vertical lines indicate the hallway.

The only PC I saw make any post indicating they entered the room was/is Sarah. I saw a post where Ovo said he watched the corner of the room, but unless he entered the room, the only corner of the room any party can see from the doorway of the northwest and northeast corner of the foyer.

The zombie wyverns are only visible by moving into the room, beyond the open double doors.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:56, Wed 02 Sept 2020.

I adjusted the THAC0's based on the To-Hit charts found in Rules Cyclopedia, p. 106. They should now be correct. I also corrected Eoni's AC and hp.

Yep! The doors not being flush to the wall thus blocking the view was not the way I pictured the room. I will go with your ruling Shane but I thought Ovo was inside. You are right, I never wrote it that way. No worries! Just let me know and we can go from there. :)

Ovo can still move inside on his turn, so it's not that big of a deal. The only reason why I pointed it out is because the room's occupants would take very specific reactions if/when they observed anyone enter the room.

Sarah got a free pass several times due to her supernatural move silently skill and the fact she was invisible.

I was wondering about that. Thanks for clearing things up Shane. Will get a post up in about an hour. Thanks again! :)

What do you mean Hit and Damage links on your character sheet?

 Sword  Strike!
 Blessed Sword Strike!

 Blessed Sword Damage!

Go ahead, hover over them and click them to see what they do.

These magic dice links are described in the rPol FAQs.

Just put square brackets around this next line in your character sheet to see how it works:

dice=1d20+1 memo="Blessed Sword THAC0 17" text="Blessed Sword Strike!"


Then once you've got these set up, you just open your character sheet and click on your attack and damage links for consistent results.  No more feeling like you're letting the party down because you keep forgetting to add your +1 hit and damage bonus.

Eoni, played a long time on rpol and did not know you could do that, very interesting.

Shane, any chance Dergan gets a free arrow attack as he had one of those statues in a death stare, arrow ready for it to move? :-).

Go for it

16:24, Today: Dergan rolled 1 using 1d6 with rolls of 1.  damage.

16:24, Today: Dergan rolled 15 using 1d20 with rolls of 15.  arrow attack.

Take that Statue!

In reply to Dergan (msg # 165):

You did better than me! :)

I'm sorry; this has been a most unusual and time-consuming day at work.

As I read it, I'm not actually fighting the thing in the corner, and while he/she/it knows I'm somewhere near it hasn't found me.  So -- I could hightail it back to the party, yes?

Yes. It has heard you, but can't see you.

Looks like we're waiting on Dergen, Vaxfar, and Elam to post in character before we're all eaten.  I think Dergen's rolled an arrow, but haven't seen it IC.

Sorry all. Been a crazy week of work and life. Now driving to VA to see our grandkids for only the 2nd time  this year (screw you covid). Will get a post up now since the wife is driving. Lol

Hmm... so my first swing of the axe did not instill confidence I take it? :)

In reply to Elam (msg # 170):

Be safe and have a great time with your family. Blessings :)

Was that that an axe swing, I thought Ovo was chasing away a gnat :-).

In reply to Dergan (msg # 173):

Yep missed the gnat too! LOL!

Need a post from Vaxfar and then I will take action for the NPCs and move the game forward into the next round.

It's a holiday weekend here in the U.S., so people may be out of town, etc., but I will give Vaxfar until tomorrow night to post, before posting on his behalf.

Thanks,

Shane

It isn't called out specifically in Labyrinth Lords, but can Turn Undead be used turn after turn to continue affecting undead even if they've survived a previous attempt?

I can see turning targets that exceeded the previous cumulative HD limit (such as perhaps this case if they're 4 or 5 HD each), but what about complete failure of the initial turning roll?  Which in this case would be if they were 6 HD or higher, which she failed to turn with her roll.  Would they be immune to further attempts?

Maybe we'll see if she tries again next round...

In Basic D&D, a cleric may attempt to Turn Undead every round until he or she fails on a roll, in which case no more attempts can be made during that encounter. The cleric must choose which undead type to attempt to Turn each round.

PM

In reply to Sarah (msg # 178):

Climbing the wall to get onto the balcony won't be difficult--the balcony is only 10 feet high.

Sarah is invisible, but the devils still have other senses, so whether she is able to get behind them without being detected will depend on her ability to move silently. Anything is possible though...

Out of curiosity, which "Basic D&D" reference source are each of you using while playing this game:

a. Labyrinth Lord
b. B/X Dungeons and Dragons (Moldvay/Cook)
c. BECMI Dungeons and Dragons (Mentzer)
d. Rules Cyclopedia (Allston)
e. Something else

Reason I ask is because I have access to all of the above and have noticed quite a few rules variations throughout. Things like To Hit charts, number of spells gained per level, spell rules, turn undead rules, etc.

I primarily use Rules Cyclpedia, because I like having a physical book to look things up and have everything in one place, but I also reference Labyrinth Lord quite frequently because I have it in PDF form. I also have B/X and BECMI in physical form, but those are split up into multiple books and more cumbersome to use as reference documents. Lastly, I often reference AD&D 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th edition books for this game as well.

For your game, I've been using Labyrinth Lord 4th Edition (2009) exclusively, because somehow I believed that was what you were using.

I do have access to B/X and AD&D 1st and 2nd and maybe 5th.

I have all of these in PDF except for 2nd and 5th (if I have it); those I have in physical form.

Vaxfar and I co-own a hard copy of 1st Edition, but he currently has custody. :)

I use the Rules Cyclopedia primarily.  If I have to look something up and don't have my book handy, I have the Lab Lord on pdf as well and use it in a pinch, but rarely does it come to that.

Sarah: You can move the short distance to the corner of the foyer in the same round you attack. Go ahead and make a move silently check. If successful, you can make a backstab attempt. Otherwise, it's a normal attack.

Labyrinth Lord Revised Edition (Fifth Release)
January 2011

c. BECMI Dungeons and Dragons (Mentzer)
d. Rules Cyclopedia (Allston)

Labyrinth Lord Revised Edition (Fifth Release)

Interesting...as I expected, we have a mix of reference material being used in this game, primarily due to the fact I never really specified and was not really aware of the minor rule differences when I started this game on a whim four years ago.

***

Waiting on a Save vs Spells (Charm Person) from Elam and his current round's action before taking the NPCs actions and moving to next round.

posting now.... not good

14:33, Today: Elam rolled 7 using 1d20+2 with rolls of 5.  Save vs Charm.

By the way, here are the images for the blue abishai and zombie wyvern:

Never mind, this was a stupid question under the rules. :)
This message was last edited by the player at 22:40, Thu 10 Sept 2020.

In reply to DM Pawn (msg # 189):

Cool! I hope we can make them all look a little worse. Blessings :)

Waiting for posts from Elam and Vaxfar prior to moving to next round...

In reply to DM Pawn (msg # 192):

Apologize for my sporadic input here. September started out as a chaotic mess of gremlins and RL responsibilities. Things should be back to "normal" now.

Blackspawn Raider

Just so I know, cand Ovo swing at the Blue devil as he attacks, or would he be out of reach because of the trident? If so only hit by missile weapons only? Thanks in advance. :)

You would need either a reach (polearm, etc.) or missile weapon to engage the flying abishai.

Since it came up in a private message, Dergan is dead (killed by failed poison save), so healing potions won't do anything to revive him. However, there are other magical means of overcoming death...

So, he's mostly dead...

;)

In reply to DM Pawn (msg # 197):

So we can wait to go through his armor for spare coppers then! :)

I'm looking forward to Dergen's interpretation of a decaying corpse.  This is real role playing.

Just wait till my fresh bones glisten temptingly to the dog :-).

Dergan, me not.  So R. E. Ch. 13 says that character get another save vs. charm each tiem the controlling "character?" places the charmed character in a dangerous situation, without being in danger itself.  Might apply, might not?

Ew, now I'm frothing at the nose, yuk.

Is Sarah in melee range with the Raiders right now?  As in, one could strike her from where they and she are?

I presume she could move to be in melee range, but that isn't my question.  I'm asking because I'm thinking of pulling out my crossbow, but that would be silly if a Raider is trying to hit me with their broad swords.

Yes, for the purposes of this encounter, everyone is within either melee and/or missile range. There is enough room to do either. There is no Raider presently engaged with Sarah, but that doesn't mean next round one won't rush up to attack her.

Waiting on a post from Vaxfar and I will begin next round. Thanks!

I do not recall... does the +1 damage bonus from Bless apply to weapon damage only or is spell damage also improved? I did not include it in my Magic Missile damage.

I don't believe that it affects magic.  Sorry. :(

One of the nice things about working from home.... I just pulled my Expert Set off the shelf and it reads:




The all makes me think it might apply. Will wait to see what Shane rules.

I have never seen Bless modifiers applied to magical damage. It's always been weapons. What about everyone else?

I hate to be opposed to the players' interests, but -- I've always seen it described as encouraging the morale of the combatants and invigorating them.  Urging them on to do better -- which would not typically come into play with magic.

As this, from Labyrinth Lord:
Bless fills the caster's allies with courage, but does not affect
enemies within the affected area of 20Ê x 20Ê.

My gut reaction was that it didn't affect magic, either.

I usually play 1ed, bless doesn't even affect damage there.  However, I've never seen it played where it affected magic.

In reading, a very short examination mind you, the rules.  It could be either. The word "all" damage is what I'd focus on if I were a lawyer.

I do recall in one of the more ancient texts that Bless cured those who'd been poisoned to death :-).

The counter argument is that since there was no To Hit roll, then Bless has no effect on the damage. And since I do not think there are any spells in this edition that require To Hit rolls, then Bless does not affect their damage. That seems logical to me. Either way, it was a fun little side discussion!

Technically, Vaxfar and Shmee finished off the one in the webs.  Elam tried to order Shmee to fire on the last raider, but Shmee looked the wizard right in the eye and fired on the webbed demon instead.  There may have been an accompanying hand gesture involved as well.

In reply to Eoni Daflin (msg # 212):

You're right. I fixed it. Got PCs mixed up.

Shmee did not have a shot on the Raider, so shot on the abishai instead.

Busy work week for me this past week and it seems perhaps for other as well. Will wait to see posts from Elam and Vaxfar until Sunday evening, before moving the game along. Thanks.

Yes, same here. Got Elam's actions posted now though.

Mechanics question as I am not near my rulebooks...since Eoni's charmer is dead, does she now realize she was under it's spell? On the contrary, Elam is still fully under the charm effects and it will be some ridiculous time frame until he gets another save, if I recall correctly.

Charm was so much more fun in these older rules. It's barely worth a look in the current edition.

Kind of a gray area...

My initial take on it is as follows:

Eoni likely still has positive feelings for her slain friend, but will get to make a new saving throw at some point (determined by her INT score), to be able to shake the charm.

Thoughts?

There is a precedent with spell effects ending when the caster dies.


OOC: Table Talk 2.
Re: Out of Character Discussion msg #662

Okay. I am good with that ruling as well.

Charm is kind of a weird corner case, because it's not a temporary effect but also not permanent. Theoretically, the spell effect could last long after the caster died, assuming the affected individual never makes the saving throw. This creates for some interesting roleplay opportunities, but for simplicity's sake, probably easier to just have the effect end upon caster's death.

I don't know whether it was a spell, or a monster ability.  In Cyclopedia, I find the only rule reference on it under Chp. 14: Monsters where it states some monsters can enchant......except that the effect ends at once if the monster is killed.

Assuming Eoni cast neutralize poison (didn't explicitly say so in post), that will revive Dergan with 20 hit points!

And, yes. Sarah is hiding somewhere in the foyer.

Yes, that was neutralize poison.  Dergen is saved!

Yea!!!! Awesome! Once done Ovo will gladly return the Warrior's sword! :)

Congrats on 6000 posts


OH, and glad Dergan yet lives! :)

Yes, yay!!!

Do you need more information for me to post? Happy to move the game along, but need player input on what your characters want to do.

Thanks!

Waiting for Vaxfar to announce his findings, but I'll prompt in character as well.

Re: the east door...it is currently open and was previously described:

An iron door on the foyer's east wall, which the three Blackspawn Raiders entered the foyer through. This door is still open and leads to a 40-foot long corridor, with a doorway on its south wall, another corridor at its halfway point leading north, and at its distant end, an T-intersection with passages leading north and south. It is relatively quiet down this corridor.

Full disclosure: I really dislike doors in PbP.

For the sake of expedience, I am going to assume the party quickly searches the adjoining corridor and will describe all the doors in one go. Otherwise, this next section could chew up weeks of real life time as the party tries to reach consensus on where to go next, listens at doors, check for traps, etc.

Just as a players note, I generally don't expect Eoni to know things that only other characters have discovered and not yet verbalized or pointed out to her in character.

Elam...Vaxfar...you still with us?

Yes, sorry. My work company is restructuring on a global scale so my life has been somewhat of a unpredictable whirlwind of chaos. Elam's feedback has been added IC.

Ovo will place the Black Raiders bodies in front of the door, the one we just entered, and then cross to join the others in the bunk room before closing the wizard locked the door once more. Thanks again!!!! :)

The crude bunks in the barracks are about 6 feet x 2 1/2 feet.

In reply to DM Pawn (msg # 231):

Sorry.  Same. Work has been very busy.  Will update

Yes. The PCs may take actions this round. Nobody is surprised.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:22, Sat 24 Oct 2020.

Waiting for posts from Dergan and Vaxfar before I move the game forward.

Will give Elam until tonight to post before moving the game forward.

As a friendly reminder, please let me know if you will be sidelined and unable to maintain the desired posting rate of every one to two days. I will gladly NPC your character to keep the game moving, especially now that we are in the midst of combat. Thanks!

Shane

Yes. Sorry. Work took me by storm the last few days. Will post IC within the hour.

Shane, can unlocking be tried again?  I don't recall you rule on this.

Not until you gain a level.

Dergan and Elam are up.

:)

Busy weekend with family as we finally are able to get everyone together to lay my father's remains to rest. Will post later tonight after everyone leaves.

Okay, no worries. And, sorry, was not aware your father had recently passed. It goes without saying, but take as much time as you need, real life always comes first.

No problem. Sadly, this was not recent. It is just very drawn out due to the various challenges this pandemic has added to an already stressful situation. This was the final piece aside from taking some of his ashes to Maine sometime next year.

Hey Shane, just checking about the last round. Ovo hit one of the Raiders for 6 damage. Ovo's roll is below. Thanks! :)

19:36, Thu 29 Oct: Ovo Goldenshield rolled 6 using 1d8+2 with rolls of 4.  Damage With Falchion .

19:35, Thu 29 Oct: Ovo Goldenshield rolled 17 using 1d20+2 with rolls of 15.  Attack with Falchion .

In reply to Ovo Goldenshield (msg # 246):

Thanks, I updated the combat tracker accordingly.

Can I shoot any of the raiders in the foyer from where I am?

only the two engaged in melee. The others are behind a door

That's good enough for me. :)

I think the Die-roller is a spawn of Tiamat! :)

A fighting retreat allows a character to move backwards at 1/2 normal
encounter movement. However, there must be a clear path for this movement.

A full retreat occurs when a character moves backwards at a faster rate
than 1/2 of encounter movement. The character making the movement forfeits his
attack this round, and his opponent attacks with a +2 to hit. In addition, if
the retreating character is carrying a shield, it does not apply to the
character's armor class during the retreat.

Any attacks made on characters from behind ignore the influence of the attacked
character's shield, if any.

Thanks for the reminder.

Vaxfar and Rogar both executed fighting retreats, for those keeping track at home.

Ovo and Dergan no longer have that option, as they are now outnumbered and don't have a direct path to retreat.

Vaxfar has a wand of fear with 4 charges that has a really good chance of causing all the Raiders to flee the battle.

Would you like him to use a charge for this purpose?

I suspect so

As I strive to make things more challenging, how selective is a wand?

Assuming Ovo and Dergan comply with his instructions, Vaxfar should be able to target the Raiders without hitting his allies....for the purposes of this encounter at least.

Wonder if that cone would encompass (and affect) a cackling invisible flying fiend too... although they are likely pretty resistant to magic

Position check: Are we in the hallway between the barracks and the grand foyer?

Just looking for a way out that we haven't either (1) determined leads  back to the grand foyer or (2) failed our lockpicking roll.

I will update map shortly and that should clear everything up.

Map is updated.

Ovo and Dergan would have been able to see into the hallway behind the double doors on the foyer's north wall.

At the end of a long hall way, they noticed what looked like stairs leading down.

When Vaxfar opened the northeast door in the barracks, he noticed a short corridor that conected to the wide north-south hallway, described above.

That's a lot of beds! We might have our hands full soon if we don't move along :)

Added a map showing the Fane's lower floor's layout.

Do you guys need more information from me to determine what you might want to do next?

We're just intimidated by the enormity of it all. :)

Out of town until Monday. Elam is staying safe behind those stronger.

In reply to Elam (msg # 266):

Thanks for the heads up and safe travels!

Want to make sure I am clear on party intent...is the party advancing into the secret door Eoni just found or retreating back to the stairs that lead up to the Fane's first floor?

Thanks, Shane! I wasn't sure either but thought it was the secret door. I can and will edit as needed. :)

I was assuming the secret door as well.

Did the drake's take no damage from the hits?  It looked like at least 3 party made successful hits, or is that a clue they don't take damage from certain weapons, etc.

Sorry. I forgot to update the damage. The black took 12. The white 1.

Thanks, was going to switch to magic arrows, but I'll stick normal for now.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, whether you celebrate it or not :)

(I realize we may have players abroad who don't celebrate U.S. Thanksgiving).

Hopefully you are all able to spend time with loved ones in these unusual times.

Shane

In reply to DM Pawn (msg # 274):

Thanks Shane! Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate and many blessings to everyone! Stay safe and be blessed! :)

Congratulations are in order for Vaxfar, who has now earned enough XP for 6th level. Vaxfar's player messaged me about a month ago stating he was too busy with life and asked me to NPC his character for a week. I went ahead and leveled his character as I am not sure when/if he will be returning.

Also...Laurenbeth, Rogar, Shmee, and Grub also earned enough XP to gain a level...so Go Me!

;)

In reply to DM Pawn (msg # 276):

Me lad Dergan is not too far behind either. The seventh level's around the corner. Congrats to the others, though. It looks like we will need all the help we can get. ;)

Been a whirlwind week for me, as we're in the midst of shopping to buy a new house.

Will try to post soon, but have a lot of not-fun stuff I need to take care of before I can dedicate mental space to creative pursuits.

Thanks,

Shane

No worries! RL always comes first. Take good care, Shane! we'll be here! :)

No worries.

Good luck house shopping. Interest rates are great, but around here they sell instantly for at least +10% over asking.

Thanks all.

Yeah...things escalated quickly...

We went from actively browsing Zillow over the past year to see what inventory is out there, to narrowing down areas of the city/suburbs/outskits that met our needs (past several months), to driving through prospective neighborhoods (past two months), to deciding to build new (existing houses sell very quickly here, ~22 days on average, and we are not ready to move until this coming summer), to narrowing down the model homes we liked best (past two weeks), to deciding to live in city limits with easy access to everything (shopping, parks, libraries, trails, etc.) as opposed to way out in the sticks where everything becomes a 20-30 minute commute, to finding the plat we wanted (past week), to signing a contract to build (last night).

If all goes well, we should be moving into our new house ~Jun 2021.

Just did the math. I am 48 years old. I have lived in 32 different apartments, houses, and even a trailer (I once lived in a 17 foot trailer w/ no running water for about 18 months) and have lived in 17 different cities/towns, 8 different states, and even a different country (Korea).

I am done with moving. I think the house we ended up buying will end up being more house than we need once the kids are out of the house for good, but it should be good for, I hope, another 15 years or so. We'll see :)

At any rate, things are starting to settle down and appreciate your patience/understanding.

Shane

No worries! Might be moving in June myself so I know the feeling. Take good care, Shane! Stay safe and be blessed! :)

So, about 18 hours after signing the purchase agreement to build the house, my spider sense was tingling about the "oversized" lot we had agreed to purchase. More specifically, I had concerns about what the seller's agent had said about a drainage culvert that supposedly was not within the lot we agreed to build on.

We asked the guy numerous times about easements and he said there were none. He took my wife out to the site and showed her where the plat flags were, but they still didn't add up. So I went searching online for the actual plat map, because the seller kept coming up with reasons why he couldn't find the file, but we could meet with the construction manager at the site so he could show us where everything was. I told him I didn't need to speak with a construction manager--I needed to see the plat map and I could figure it out for myself.

I found the plat online and it was quite clear the drainage culvert not only was on the property we bid on, but effectively took up 40% of the total area! We would have been charged for a double lot, but only got to use 60% of the lot and had liability for the drainage ditch. So that means, mowing the area around it, cleaning the ditch of debris, liability if somebody's kid gets hurt playing in the open ditch, etc.

So, 18 hours after signing, we contacted our real estate agent and brought up our concerns and told her to cancel the contract.

The seller's agent tried to claim he was surprised by this fact, had never seen anything like it in his 20 years in the business, it was an honest mistake, etc. This was the same guy who earlier had made the comment an agent has to know their merchandise. There is no way the dude didn't know. In fact, when he did finally send us a plat map, it had some other house model superimposed on the plat, from about 1 month earlier. This tells me somebody else went through the same thing we did, but likely didn't discover the issue until the seller presented the map to them. I didn't need the sellers map to know it wasn't right. My undergrad was/is in geography with an emphasis on GIS and cartography, so I have a pretty good idea when something doesn't make spatial sense.

At any rate, we're out of that contract, supposedly our earnest money will be refunded, and we're back on the hunt! ;)

Good times

Sorry to hear this Shane. That is awful. Sending you good thoughts and blessings.  I hope your luck and the morals of others improve.

The good news is you were able to get it sorted out before you were committed, but whew! that was a close one. Life would be so much easier if everyone were just truthful and upfront... pipe dream, I know. Best of luck in your continued search.

What is wrong with people?  You have to be careful.   A co-worker of mine had a home built.  He went to a local construction company and showed them what he wanted (very detailed).  They worked with him for like a month before finally saying they just could not build to those specifications.   So he went back out and found a builder who would build it to his design.  After the home was built, the first builder sued him saying they had copyrighted the design and it was a trademark infringement to have someone else build it (even though they said they couldn't build it).  They settled the lawsuit (which they would have won) for 25 thousand. Apparently, they had done that to other people as well.  Ouch.

Agreed.  Sounds like you found out at the earliest possible time under the circumstances, and fortunately not too late.

Are we going to run through and lock that door, or fight the monster???

The door is open but there was a trap that almost killed Eoni so they are checking things out. :)

Ovo: there are no size category differences for weapon damage in Basic D&D.

Light crossbows are d6. Heavy crossbows are 2d4.

In reply to DM Pawn (msg # 291):


Not sure if you rolled the damage for Ovo's hit or not. If not, I rolled it below. Thanks for the info, Shane! Have a great weekend, everyone! :)




07:54, Today: Ovo Goldenshield rolled 7 using 2d4+1 with rolls of 3,3.  Crossbow Damage.

In reply to Ovo Goldenshield (msg # 292):

Okay. I've updated the combat tracker accordingly.

I know i'm mostly dead and all, but didn't Vaxfar cast a "Speed" spell last round, wouldn't we all have gotten 2 moves before they attacked, I may misread his intent but he cast some kind of spell.

That's a good point.  I don't think the results of that spell were depicted in the scene.

The hobgoblins have not attacked this round. The party is hasted and are under the following effects:

This spell makes creatures move and act more quickly than normal. A maximum of 24 creatures within a diameter of 60 ft may be affected. A hasted creature may make double the normal number of attacks. However, a creature may not cast a second spell. All of the hasted creature's modes of movement (including land movement, burrow, climb, fly, and swim) double in speed.

As a result, if you've posted an action already in the current turn, please update your post to account for the haste condition.

I will update the combat tracker accordingly.

Thanks for the update, Shane! I edited my post to account for the second attack but I rolled a 1! :)

Eoni is fine with her move this round.  Turning is like a spell anyway.

No change for my action either... unless somehow haste magnifies that crappy damage roll :p

I added an action to what I had.

Dergan falls to the ground twice as fast :-).

In reply to Dergan (msg # 301):

Hang in there!!!! :)

Dergan still has a Death save to make unless he's trying to draw out the suspense by having rolled it in secret...

I assumed by the write up that the beginning of the death rolls was the round after death, i was alive this round and my action this round was to die :-).

Is Laurenbeth still in melee with the warpriest even with the wraith on her?

Yes. Laurenbeth is in melee with wraith.

I am sorry, Dergan, my friend. :(

Is Dergan gone before Elam tries to help?

Yes. He's at -11. His Con is 9. He's dead.

Go take down that Fane!  Good luck, may the dice be kind to you and banes to your opponents.

Busy with family. Will try to post later.

No worries. I figured the game would slow down over the holidays and pick back up in the new year.

Happy New Year All!

Things have been kind of quiet here over the past month due to the usual holiday play-by-post slowdown and the fact I have been in a house hunting mode.

At any rate, now that we are working are way out of the holidays and the fact my wife and I have once again entered contract to buy a house, I would like to resume a more steady posting frequency.

Please chime in and let me know if this works for you, or when you anticipate being dug out of holiday stuff :)

Thanks,

Shane

Happy New Year, Shane and everyone! I hope you all have a very blessed New Year. I hope your house buying goes well for you. We, too, are looking to buy a home, so I know it can be a chore. As for me, I could resume posting here regularly. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year celebration. Stay safe and be blessed.

I'm good with a ramp-up.

Always ready to post.

FYI, Shmee will now be played by the player formerly known as Dergan...

BTW, I just realized this is the 2nd time one of this player's characters has been killed in games I have run. Not only that, but he is the ONLY player to have ever suffered this fate in the PBP's I have run on this site over the past 12 years!

I promise, I am not targeting you Norion/Dergan/Shmee :)

A dubious distinction :-).

To be honest, Norion and team made a bad decision, that started that ball rolling.  And then, the dice roller finished him off, failing a resurrection check when you have an 18 constitution is really bad luck, what a time to roll a 100. That one hurt, I really like Norion.

Dergan, well, he was hard to play with a 5 INT.  I mean he had 3 healing potions and died from low hit points...stupid costs extra.

I don't enjoy games where TPK's are the norm, but if there is no sense of real danger, that also takes a bit of spice out of the game I think.

Welcome back, Dergan/ Shmee! Glad to have you with us. :)

I agree.

I have no problem if one player keeps getting assigned the red shirt to show how dangerous our adventure is.

Based on posted in-character actions (or lack thereof), my assumption was Eoni, Ovo, and Sarah went to check out the other door, while the rest of the party remained in the summoning chamber discussing what to do with it.

However, Vaxfar latest post indicates he was with Eoni, Ovo, and Sarah, or at least close enough to see Eoni get struck with the whip and respond by running into the bedchamber to attack. So, I will go with that and resolve accordingly.

We'll assume the rest of the party becomes aware of the nearby scuffle and will be able to full respond in the upcoming/next round.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:57, Wed 27 Jan 2021.

Work kicking my ass this week. Will get an IC post up later tomorrow evening.

Will post on Vaxfar and Elam's behalf later today, if they haven't done so already.

Okay, new round up.

Was just reviewing the Protection from Evil spell that is still active on several PCs, just to make sure I was correctly adjudicating.

So, it prevents bodily contact, essentially providing a 1-foot barrier. It also causes the devils' a -2 attack penalty and confers a +2 bonus to recipients' saves.

In reply to DM Pawn (msg # 324):

Thanks for posting for me! Was pretty much exactly what Elam had in mind given his options :)

work insanity + 2 feet of snow, so digging out slowly between meetings. will have a post up late tonight after kung fu, assuming my fingers will be the only part of me that won't be sore by then, but Elam is basically curled up in the fetal position in the summoning room anyway

In reply to Elam (msg # 327):

That's a lot of snow! We had at least two feet of sunshine this week, maybe more.

I really don't miss living in places that snow, but my wife and kids do.

Opposite in my case. I don't mind it but the wife hates it.

Question - The Erinyes that is invisible is still holding the whip. Can that be used to "locate" her? Or is the whip also now invisible?

The rules are somewhat unclear on invisibility with respect to a character's items, but the way I have always seen it handled is the caster's equipment also becomes invisible--otherwise it would defeat the purpose of the spell.

An interesting wrinkle I just thought of is the fact invisibility usually ends when a caster makes an attack; however, the whip of entanglement is restraining Eoni--not the erinyes at this point. The tugging on the whip, etc. was really more for flavor text. Once a creature is caught in an erinyes' whip of entanglement, they remain so until they are cut free.

At this point it's immaterial whether the erinyes is even holding the whip. Eoni is bound by the whip. The only difference is a PC could attempt to haul Eoni out of the room, assuming the erinyes is no longer holding the whip.

At any rate, hopefully this helped.

As a side note, I didn't even think about the fact Grub was cutting at an invisible whip--perhaps could explain why it was so difficult?

In reply to DM Pawn (msg # 330):

Yet, is not the entangled whip an attack on Eoni, thus making the Erinyes visible? Or because the attack happened before the spell and Eoni is held in the whip, would she too become invisible? Way other thinking, I know, but either situation would be interesting. :)

It was an attack when she released the whip of entanglement (BTW, it's actually a rope of entanglement, but I reskinned it to be more thematically appropriate). She wasn't invisible when she made the attack with the magic item. She went invisible after the attack was made and its effect already active.

I don't think Eoni would be invisible simply by being held by the whip.

Invisibility has always been an annoying spell. It's right up there with Fly and ESP and the Top 3 most annoying low level spells (from a DM's persepctive)--and every player takes them.

No worries! I was thinking of the different ways it might work myself. Oh! If Ovo were hit a second time with the knife, he would now be at 27 hit points as he was at 30 before. I will be posting soon. Thanks! :)

If she is standing on a bed, could we not tell her approximate location based on the imprint of her weight on it?

Sorry to open the can of worms... I will go back to cowering in my corner. :)

 Yeah. Good and fair point. Let's assume the bed impression allows one to attack her at -4 to hit, per normal attacking in darkness/invisible rules.

I guess the rope would be visible now:

Invisibility
Level: 2
Duration: See below
Range: Touch
The creature or object touched becomes invisible, vanishing
from sight, even from infravision. If the recipient is a creature
carrying gear, that vanishes, too. If the spell is cast on
someone else, neither the caster nor any allies can see the
subject, unless they can normally see invisible things or other
magic is employed to do so. Items dropped or put down by an
invisible creature become visible; items picked up disappear if
tucked into the clothing or pouches worn by the creature.
Light, however, never becomes invisible, although a source of
light can become so (thus, the effect is that of a light with no
visible source). Any part of an item that the subject carries but
that extends more than 10 feet from it becomes visible.
Of course, the subject is not magically silenced, and certain
other conditions can render the recipient detectable (such as
stepping in a puddle). The spell ends if the subject attacks any
creature, but is otherwise of indefinite duration. For the
purposes of this spell, an attack includes any spell targeting a
foe or whose area of effect includes a foe. (Exactly who is a
foe depends on the invisible characterÊs perceptions.) Actions
directed at unattended objects do not break the spell. Causing
harm indirectly is not an attack. Thus, an invisible being can
open doors, talk, eat, climb stairs, summon monsters and
have them attack, cut the ropes holding a rope bridge while
enemies are on the bridge, remotely trigger traps, open a
portcullis to release attack dogs, and so forth. If the subject
attacks directly, however, it immediately becomes visible along
with all its gear. Spells such as bless that specifically affect
allies but not foes are not attacks for this purpose, even when
they include foes in their area.

No worries. I don't mind rules discussions, particularly when it comes to older editions, where the rules are less clear.