Hello all and welcome to the game! I had a ton of great applicants, lots of support casters, so we're likely to be pretty magic heavy.

Our returning players from before the hiatus are:

Murkau Holdheart, tough as nails undead hunting Ranger
Keldros Halfmoon, canny, savvy Investigator

Welcome to our new players:

Darcon, Wizard of the wind and air
Garland Van Burke, Cleric of Pharasma
Shara, a shepherd of lost souls
Sir Constantine Godalming, redeemer Paladin

Feel free to discuss shared histories, party balance, character creation, or any questions that you have here. You're free to change your characters around up until crunchy character sheets are due on Monday, if you wind up a completely different class or build after some discussion that's fine.

Greetings and salutations! I'll be playing Shara, a duskwalker (a race created by psychopomps and tied to Pharasma's Boneyard and the cycle of souls).

Mechanically, I've got a little wiggle room as to how to flesh her out. Spiritualist is of course the main one, with multiple archetypes for exactly this idea (Fated Guide, Soul Warden, and Usher of Lost Souls). There are also archetypes that mimic other classes, like the Phantom Blade (pseudo-Magus) and Exciter (pseudo-Bloodrager).

If a stronger caster is desired, there's also the Death Druid archetype for Druid, with a similar focus on preserving the balance between life and death.


Alternately, my first pitched concept was an Alchemist (Vivisectionist, Chirurgeon, Ectoplasm Master), a gravedigger, coroner, and mortician, though that may have too much overlap with our investigator and Pharasman cleric.

Hello everyone, I will be playing your general support character Garland Van Burke. A formal cleric of Pharasma originally from the cosmopolotian city of Caliphas. Garland is a healer of both magical and mundane means, being well known in Caliphas as a doctor, surgeon, and when required a magical healer. In academic circles he's known more as a scholar though there have been a few monster hunts like when he and Petros Lorrimor met.

His domains will include healing and knowledge. His skills mostly specializing in spellcasting and various knowledges (since he has access to all of them through the knowledge domain I was thinking Religion, history, and planes as his top three). I may also play with magic item creation in the future

I am here .

Friendly neighborhood city raised half orc Paladin redeemer.  I will get more information and introductions up over the next few days.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:44, Sat 05 Jan 2019.

Hello new people! Murkau has been a friend of the family for quite a few years, he helped the professor back when the human was young and was repeatedly asked for as a guard for the man's expeditions and studies. And because of this Murkau has mostly gotten over his xenophobic ways, though he still acts like a donkey occasionally.

As for builds and stuff I think an Usher of Lost Souls Spiritualist sounds pretty rad myself.

Oh Murkau has the Divine Tracker and the Infiltrator archetypes, and is a follower of Irori.

I'm thinking Usher of Lost Souls with a Kindness Phantom and the Personal Chronicler feat for a familiar on top of my phantom. With those bonuses, I should be a strong party face and support, giving our beatsticks some free extra attacks. After that I might invest more heavily in channeling, boosting the DC and getting stuff like Turn Undead.

Just to clarify how much detail can we share?

I suppose any of us could present our entire sheet if the DM thought it appropriate
I have no stat less than 10 as I personally loathe the concept of dump stats.

Background and fluff:

Philopsophy:
Believes most Paladins talk too much and work too hard at getting along with or trying to change others too quickly...as redemption is a path that takes time.
There is the hard way (intimidate) and the easy way (diplomacy), which he uses often.
Detecting evil is not the way to know whether or not one's strike is true. Redeemer paladins do not have the ability to detect evil.

Quotes:
"I do not answer to you!"
"I am confused!"
"Explain yourself!"
"What is the meaning of this!"
"I do not recognize the legitamacy of your authority!"

Questions and answers with SCG:
Q: How do the monsterous races become so well monsterous?
A: Those of good heart and character are so hurt that they can not continue to live goodly lives in their own homes, in their tribes nor in their nations.....
"To weep, is to make less the depth of grief; Tears, then, for babes; blows and revenge for me.”

Q: How then can they be redeemed?
By choice and opportunity....
“I’ll redeem myself by paying that which is owed when men think least I will”

Justice is bringing the sword to the oppressors.....
Saving the oppressed and blocking the way of the wicked.
Redemption is offering the oppressors a new path to atone for their past.....

Though the oath against fiends is passingly familiar to SCG, he can not follow that oath and stead fast to being a redeemer.....
A paladin who takes an oath against demons, devils, daemons, and other evil outsiders is constantly on the lookout for malicious fiendish insurgence into the world, and faces it with swift and unwavering defiance. Often she works closely with inquisitors, searching for signs of outsider manipulation and possession.....

Signs he looks for
Blame, guilt, shame, worthlessness, discouragement, despair....or one attempting to make others feel such.
VS. Hope, encouragement, redemption, righteousness
This message was last edited by the player at 00:08, Sun 06 Jan 2019.

You can post sheets here if you'd like to get into deep specifics, but a general discussion may be more productive.

Well if you guys want to read Garlands info then Ill post it below, if anyone whos worked with Petros Lorrimor before wants to know Garland Im fine with that. The professor and Garland originally met during a ghost hunt in Ulcazar where Garland saved Petros' life and they formed their long standing friendship over a night at the tavern which has lasted years.

As for the character specifics Im going to have to vastly restructure Garland. oringally I wanted him to be a powerful divine spellcaster, face of the group, with incredible healing powers, and some ability to meet enemies head on in battle. With 15 point buy my options are much more limited though. To start him being a face of the group is the one thing Im going to get rid of, I cant spare the skill points to do spellcasting, knowledges, and talking skills. Instead Ill be focusing on the two aspects that make Garland Garland which is his ability to heal and his pursuit as an scholar. To change those things would require me changing the whole character so thats not going to happen. This also translates into powerful magic spells so Im more or less going to be playing him as a wizard but with divine spells and back you all up with magic and a crossbow.

be warned before you read my write up for Garland, my mind is a scary place you may never be able to escape from

Name: Garland Van Burke
Race: Human
Class: Cleric of Pharasma
Domains: Healing and knowledge

Description: Garland is a mountain of a man standing well over six feet tall with a muscular build. Many men and women comment on his handsome clean shaven face with dark brown eyes and even darker black as night shoulder length hair. His clothes vary but he tends to wear victorian style clothing including white long sleeved dress shirts, brown vests and breeches, and black knee high boots. When expecting battle he dons the black chainmail given to him by the church of Pharasma, decorated with the symbols of the clergy which almost always includes a purple hooded cloak with Pharasma's symbol on the back.

Personality: Garland is an oddity among his peers in the church and for what passes for stereotypical clerics of Pharasma. Instead of being dour and serious Garland has a spice for life. He is the kind of man who loves to socialize whether its a philosophical discussion or just well meaning joking and he will not hesitate to buy a round to get people talking and enjoying life a little more.

He has a thirst for knowledge and often spends long nights pouring over any kind of lore he can get his hands on but for him the best kind of knowledge is one shared with friends or colleagues over a drink.

As a talented healer through mundane or magical means he always offers his ability for as cheap as he possibly can and he delights in snatching nearly dead individuals from deaths hands.

As a personal philosophy he takes great care when it comes to the dead. Taking care of the deads affairs and making sure that the dead stay in their graves. Neither is he afraid to help maintain the graves of others or bury the newly fallen himself and perform their last rights for only the most intricate Pharasman rituals keep the dead in their graves.

Background: Garland was born a little over two decades ago on the first day of the Procession of unforgotten souls, a holy event conducted annually. Garlands mother (Risa) was a priestess herself who fell in love with someone in Ravengro but no one seems to know the identity of his father, or at least no one is telling. He was born in the city of Caliphas and grew up within the church with the orphans who had been adopted by the clergy because his mother often left on long travels to other lands. A few times a year he would see her but from the beginning he felt that he was a child of the clergy more then of hers.

As a boy Garland loved books of all kinds whether they be story books, historical journals, or books on medicine. This made him a bit of an outcast among the other children but as he rounded the age of twelve he began to desire more then books and old scrolls. He began getting out more often amongst the temple's other children and the social circles in Caliphas. In time he discovered his silver tongue and natural talent to read others.

When Garland came of age at fourteen he was expected to take up a trade. He had a hunger to help others, to continue to learn all the lore he could get his hands on, and to continue his pursuits in medicine. The best answer was to enter the clergy as an acolyte and he didnt hesitate to jump at the opportunity. His training in lore and magic went well, proving that he had a natural talent with latent clerical abilities and calling upon the goddess' favor but if there was one thing he found himself poor at it was combat. Garland always lacked talent with arms but he made up for it in hard work and practice, spending a great many nights with practice dummies and receiving special instruction.

When he turned nineteen he was awarded his ceremonial robes and decorated weapons and armor, signifying his full graduation into the clerics of Pharasma. At first the order kept him at the temple seeing to the everyday routines of the church and the citizen's around it. However a year after his graduation he would be tasked with traveling to a small village and putting to rest the soul of a recently manifested ghost. Garland met Petros Lorrimor on this mission when the spirit lashed out at him in the local graveyard. Garland channeled his holy power driving it back and saving the Professor. The clerics and the professor put the soul to rest a few nights later and a true friendship between the two men grew before they parted ways. It was not long after before Garland began to send letters to the professor asking how things were as well as to inquiring what he was working on. When letters came back they began a long correspondance as they discussed daily life and intellectual pursuits, often relying on one another's knowledge for their own work.

Over the next two years Garland became a teacher at the temple and used his talents at healing on any that could cover his expenses (any profits went to the temple) making him a reputable doctor, surgeon, and physician in peoples eyes. However a most puzzling event happened several weeks ago when the letters from his old friend just stopped and then his own were returned with news of Petros' funeral. Garland took a leave of abscence and left for Ravengro that night
This message was last edited by the player at 00:54, Sun 06 Jan 2019.

I am a follower of Abadar and have a background trait justicar (I may go into that prestige class later on);
for now he is here to bring order to this region and perhaps improve relations between humans and the monsterous
humanoids.

Well...he hasn't shared his background with anyone in-game yet...

Keldros is a half-drow Investigator Empiricist who worships Abadar as well. He has a bit of a temper and doesn't take insults well. He has the "On The Payroll" campaign trait, having been hired by the professor on archaeological digs for his trapfinding capabilities (as well as a few of his other talents), but they became friends as well.

Interesting perhaps we had meet at a temple during some of my training. Where did you come from?

Although not the point of the game I believe the orcs and half orcs have been on the wrong side and need to be united with the living (civilized in other words)against the undead

Some of y'all went really far into background writing. I've got some ideas that I haven't quite fully fleshed out yet. I think I'm going a slightly different direction than my original pitch, but it should be some fun flavor. I'm thinking of not being directly local, for one.

Basically, Shara sprang into existence in a military graveyard in Egede, a city in Mendev where weary soldiers went to relax and old soldiers retired to die. Duskwalkers are essentially worthy souls that have been plucked and put back into the world to perform a role of shepherding lost souls, so Shara is most likely herself a former crusader (though she herself isn't terribly sure of her former identity). Raised by the clergy of Pharasma who oversaw the cemetery (as well as the clergy of other faiths who performed their particular rites for the dead), she learned a great deal about souls, spirits, healing, the cycle of life and death, and the foul undead that pervert it. In part due to her nature, she was a natural magnet for those lost souls, in the form of phantoms, and she learned the ways to help them find their peace.

Her most recently acquired phantom, though, is a bit of a puzzle. Rather than being bound to the world because of anger, remorse, despair, or any of the other negative emotions that so often leave souls with unfinished business, this one remains out of a stubborn sort of kindness. A paladin in life, this spirit doesn't want to give up its mission of helping people, so it is intent on remaining until it's done enough good. While Shara herself is Neutral, as are many Pharasmans, this spirit tries to tug her towards good acts, something she may exasperatedly agree to. Unbeknownst to either of them, this spirit (despite its apparent age when it died) is actually a descendant of the crusader from which Shara was incarnated.

In her studies at the temple, she read books and other writings penned by Professor Lorrimor and was impressed. When he came to lecture in Nerosyan (the capital city of Mendev), she traveled to attend and was an apt student. She caught his attention (not unusual for a gray-skinned person to stand out a bit), and they ended up establishing a dialogue via correspondence, each one penning long thoughts and arguments back and forth to one another. The latest letter, however, informed her that he had died. While she's no stranger to death, the man made enough of an impression on her that she decided to travel and pay her respects.

Hmm. I realize now that I hadn't ever stated where he grew up, as his background was almost like a sample post really of him relating to the Professor how he met his Investigator mentor. I think he spent much of his childhood in Absalom, though to be fair he worships Abadar but isn't extremely devout nor does he spend a ton of time in temples. He's not clergy after all. =)

Hi there folks, happy to be on board.

Darcon is an ex-wizard's apprentice and current Wizard, making his way in the world as a wandering mage, seeking out new places to broaden his horizons and perhaps find sources of new spells & magical lore now that he has no one to really learn from.

Darcon has learnt though that anything worth having is buried in forgotten, dangerous  places of the world and he will likely have to join with like minded people to plunder this wealth. As this is a prospect fraught with peril he is yet undecided about how to go about it.

His master was a friend of Professor Lorrimor and Darcon has arrived in Ustalav to attend the funeral, having received word of it through an old acquaintance.

In reply to Keldros Halfmoon (msg # 14):

Absalom is workable but based on the size of the city it is very unlikely that we ever met there;  perhaps we met on the road (joined the same caravan) heading here.

Got most of my crunchy bits down, just finagling equipment and stuff. I'm going to be mostly useless in combat, and utterly screwed if anything gets into melee with me, but my phantom should at least be useful.

So quick question it says money is determined as per your class. Is that average per class, maximum per class?

Just have to finalize that and my feats and Im done. I was thinking turn undead and blazing channel

That’s a great question and will make a difference on wooden shield or steel and longbow or short for initial gear.

I actually have the additional traits feat over taking a standardized or expected front liners feat selection:
Again a personal preference over just crunchy bits.  Partially I attribute a lack of focus (Orc blood influences perhaps) in SCG’s youth for this.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Almost human: eternal understanding: belly’s honey harvester: justicar

---

This message was last edited by the player at 12:58, Mon 07 Jan 2019.

For your starting wealth you can choose to roll or take average.

Thanks everyone for getting your sheets in over the weekend. I'm waiting on one more, but if it doesn't come in by the end of the day we'll get started anyway. They can still play and contribute, but they'll auto-fail attacks and skill checks until they get a sheet in.

Was anyone else on the road from Absolom (or points between) that I may have met on the way here?

Murkau has the "On the Payroll" trait, but he's known the family for years, so there's a good chance you've worked with or met him before.

I've put up the first in character thread. Feel free to jump in and introduce yourselves, those of you who don't know each other in-character.

I like the posts so far!

I'd have liked to wait for everyone to get up an introductory post, sorry if I skipped you, but I feel like the number one factor in keeping a pbp game running smoothly is pacing. I'll try to get a GM post up every weekday. I'll also try to get it up at a pretty uniform time, noonish (today's post was early because there wasn't a GM post yesterday), so that anyone who wants to post has an opportunity to do so.

Got busy and didn't realize we had started, sorry.

No problem at all.

Shara has a 7 Strength, so. No carrying for me.

Some help would be appreciated.....

Hmm. You guys seemed to be going at a daily rate. I can't do that this time of year. I'll have to think on this. I'll post in a bit.

No worries I think it will be fine....

We'd love to have you stick around if it fits into your schedule. It do plan to try and stick to a 1/day general posting rate, maybe less on the weekends.

I try to check at least once a day though I dont always succeed.

Okay. Yeah. I wasn't able to post since Monday and there's just a wall of text already, lol.

I guess I will admit defeat. I won't be able to keep up with you guys/gals. Shame - this is the...like, sixth time I've tried to play this AP. Every time the game has died due to GM disappearing (technically including this game previously).

Ah well. It's not meant to be, I guess, lol. Have fun you guys!

I'm sorry to hear it, you're a blast to play with. I hope you find a great game that fits your schedule a little better, and if you ever want back in just let me know.

I'll leave your character up for the next week or so, and if nothing changes by then I'll take you out of the game.

I've added a Journal thread with the results of your knowledge checks. It's an open thread, so you can post there if there's anything you'd like to remember or note down. I'll also post here in the OOC whenever it's updated so you'll know if there's new info added.

If everybody is okay I'll move things along to the following day, if there's anything you'd like to do that night just let me know.

Also: The professor's library, the town archives, and the records at the Temple of Pharasma can be used as research locations. By spending 8 hours of research you can re-roll a knowledge check with +2, and untrained characters can roll knowledge checks as well with no cap. If Kendra is available for the duration of the research session she will use the Aid Another action to confer an additional +3 bonus to the check (She has the Helpful trait).

I've split Shara and Garland (and anyone who wants to accompany them) off into their own thread.

link to a message in this game

Everyone else can keep posting in Chapter 1.

Pretty soon the locals are going to start accusing me of beguiling everyone with my lies.....

Sorry for absence, busy week at work.

No problem, it happens.

15:30, Today: Shara rolled 22 using 1d20+9.  Knowledge (Religion).

To know what kind of anti-spirit tools the professor may have been referring to.

Will be posting later on today, got held up a bit with work!

In reply to Shara (msg # 42):

The most likely ghost hunting tools that an organization like the Church of Pharasma would have available would be scrolls with spells like Ghostbane Dirge or Detect Undead, Ghost Touch weapon oils, and Holy Water.

The Journal thread has been updated with a map of Ravengro.

Just need to clarify is the box of books currently with me at the house?

Yes. The chest was locked and put away after the reading, but it's currently in the Professor's study.

I've updated the Journal thread with the results of Darcon's knowledge check on Harrowstone.

Everybody please welcome a new player! Oread, inquisitor, and adventurer Keanala Stonesmarque will be joining our lineup. Like Murkau and the recently departed Keldross, Keanala was one of the original PCs before the game went on hiatus.

I am using these for RPing

3 General Orders


1st General Order
“I will guard everything within the limits of my post and quit my post only when properly relieved.”

2nd General Order
“I will obey my special orders and perform all of my duties in a military manner.”

3rd General Order
“I will report violations of my special orders, emergencies, and anything not covered in my instructions, to the commander of the relief.”

Garland and Shara, you two can post in the chapter 1 thread if you'd like. I'll post a short outro in 1.1 when the next GM post goes up.

Keanala! Long time no see!

Welcome Kanala! An Inquisitor will be quite useful in investigating these suspicious events in Ravengro. :)

I'm a little confused about where I actually am. I assumed I was following Garland back to the estate, but in order to have seen the statue we'd have to actually be in the square, as it's a fair distance from the estate and not necessarily something we'd have spotted as we walked up to the estate.

In order to keep everyone together and engaged let's assume that you and Garland met the others at the town square, unless you'd prefer to reconnoiter with Constantine at the house.

Constantine, if you want to keep a close eye on those books and still run around doing stuff with the rest of the party the chest is definitely small enough to fit in a backpack.

Since making a research check in the library is an all day activity it would probably be best if everybody researches at the same time. That way one or two people aren't locked out of the investigation while they're doing the check and we can do a little time skip/research montage for the day.

Decide what you'd like to do and let me know. If you want to follow the various investigation threads or just look around town it's fine to split up, I just don't want people doing research checks to have nothing to do while everyone else is running around.

If you would like to spend the day doing research let me know who's making their own checks and who's assisting, and if you're rolling or taking 10.

If we intend to do a research day Garland will consult the temples archives and look for a list of burial sites in the area the professor mentioned. I figure once he knows who is buried where the standout should be the false crypt

Other topics he will want to look into include

Harrowstone general history
Harrowstone paranormal history
Harrowstone prisoner list (especially any who died in the fire)
Harrowstone Staff list (especially any who died in the fire) and any surviving realitives in town

Since the memorial vandalism took place relatively early in the morning you still have a full day to do research and investigate.

Shara, you mentioned "taking advantage of the wealth of material here at the estate" so I had you stay at the Lorrimor house. I rolled a knowledge check on the Whispering Way for you since you have points in Knowledge: Religion.

Darcon, you do get a +2 when you're researching at one of the libraries (Lorrimor's house, the temple, or the town council), and if Kendra is at that same location she will Aid Another for an additional +3, so your total roll would have been 17.

Garland, I moved you to the temple now rather than at sunrise so that you don't miss out on the day's research.

As a GM I'll try to read your intents and do things like this to keep things moving. I feel like an important factor in the slower placed PbP format is to keep things moving smoothly and keep the pace interesting.

But the most important thing is that you get to control your character, you are autonomous. If I ever make a post where I assume you did something you didn't want to do, put you somewhere that you didn't want to go, or take an action that you didn't want to take please, please don't hesitate to let me know. It's way, way better to do a little re-writing than for you to feel like you aren't in charge of your characters or that I'm steamrolling you.

Also, I've updated the Journal thread with the results of the day's research checks.

Not the best I could have gotten but still pretty good. Im not sure if that will reveal the location or maybe just point us in a general direction though

17:36, Today: Garland Van Burke rolled 23 using 1d20+6.  Researching the false crypt.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:39, Wed 06 Feb 2019.

With the instructions in the Professor's journal and a map of the Restlands that you found in the archives you're confident that you'll be able to find the crypt if you go looking for it.

Hi folks.  I kinda of missed my entrance cue but hopefully I can catch up with you all.  :)

Welcome to the game proper!

I feel like I am posting too often....

Not at all. The posting rate we're trying to stick to is 1 a day on weekdays, so you're perfectly on track for that. PbP games are a lot like tabletop, not everyone has something to contribute to every exchange, so it's fine if not everyone posts. But it's super great to have a very consistent player like you so that I always have something to respond to to keep the story moving forward.

Also: does anyone have any further plans for the evening after the day's research? If you do we'll move on to that, if not I'll spin Murkau and Constantine off into a thread so that they can keep conversing with the sheriff concurrently and move on to the next day.

Constantine and Murkau, I've split your day's investigation off into its own thread.

link to a message in this game

You can post in both threads, just bear in mind that whatever is happening in the Chapter 1.2 thread is happening retroactively.

I'll move things along to the next day unless anyone has anything else they'd like to do.

Apolgies been in the hospital the last few days, I will catch up today.

Yikes, hopefully you get feeling better.

Everyone is there at the crypt, unless you'd like to pursue other investigations. Constantine, feel free to ask any questions you have in the Chapter 1.2 thread in one big batch so that we can wrap up that segue.

Just a heads up that I'm going to be moving 3000 miles away (from Northern California to upstate New York) over this next week, which means my computer is going in a box to be shipped tomorrow. I'll try to keep up with things via my phone, but don't expect substantive or well-formatted posts from me for the next week or so.

That’s one rule
Real life comes first.

Anyone really planning their next level yet?
I was thinking the ferocious resolve feat would be really fun...

Sorry for the spotty GM posts last week, looks like we've all been busy.

Thanks largely to a big chunk of XP from the knowledge checks you guys have been nailing you are close to leveling up. I'll let you know when, but it should be right after you conclude the encounter in the crypt.

Apologies for my disappearance again, the pain meds they put me on ended up having an adverse reaction and I had to go back to the hospital. Turns out when you give a person 3 different types of pain meds, without checking what the other doctors prescribed him, you can almost kill a person.

Normally this wouldn't be a problem because I know what each of the prescriptions are and what they can and can't mix with. My spouse did not. So it's a good thing I have a high mass density for someone my weight and height.

Yikes man, hopefully you get feeling better soon. Definitely don't mix up your meds.

Damn, that was a close call! Do get well soon Murkau.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:37, Wed 20 Feb 2019.

I've added info about the Spirit Planchette to the Items section in the Journal thread.

Additionally, you all have enough XP to level up to level 2. You can level yourselves up the next time you rest.

Do we roll hit points?

You can roll or take average.

UNless there are objections garland will take 1 potion of cure light wounds.

Alright Garlands levelup is done. I decided to take +1 hp instead of skill point this level due to his abysmal HP roll

I havnt decided yet but I may switch out a spell or 2 for more detect undeads spells

You can take advantage of the Retraining rules if you'd like, and if you're okay giving up your adventuring actions for the day. Perhaps not the best idea while there's a time crunch, but maybe later in the campaign.

Is anyone considering those nice shiny arrows?  If not, then Keanala wouldn't mind using them.

Garland has no use for arrows so go for it

If there is time in the day I would like to have another research day as theres a lot of other things Garland wants to look into. I think the most pressing is getting the list of prisoners and staff that died in the fire so we know who were dealing with

In reply to Keanala Stonesmarque (msg # 82):

SCG could use a few; for those tough times when he is out of smites and fighting at range...


Dice roller is cursed!
This message was last edited by the player at 13:46, Tue 26 Feb 2019.

You still have most of the day left after clearing the haunted crypt, but if you plan to stay up late guarding the crypt you're in for a long night. You can chose to either take it easy on the research for a -2 on your Knowledge Check, or make a DC10 Fortitude save to avoid being fatigued the following day.

Ha Ha!  Been there.  Shall we split them up then?

In reply to Keanala Stonesmarque (msg # 86):

I really am not seeing a good way to split 10 (+1) arrows, perhaps they will be better in the hands of a dedicated archer.

Perhaps a few of the MW arrows (17) were collected?
This message was last edited by the player at 13:24, Wed 27 Feb 2019.

Kendra only managed to grab the scrolls and the one quiver from the chest before the ceiling collapsed.

If everyone is okay to wait until nightfall I'll move things along, if you'd like to split off and pursue other investigations just let me know.

Shara, you mentioned research so I've sent you off to the library with Kendra. I added the results of your Knowledge check to the Journal thread, you managed to find out the names of the infamous five prisoners.

Everyone else is cooling their heels at the Lorrimor household when Keanala is attacked by stirges. There's a thread up for the combat, you can post there concurrently.

Ill refrain from doing a post till I see Keanala's

Sorry for the delay in posting, got held up by RL. Updating now!

Sorry guys.  Got caught up in a uni paper.

Catching up now.

Looks like everyone took that little detour together, so there probably wasn't a need to break that encounter off into a concurrent thread. Oh well.

If anyone has something they'd like to do this evening let me know, if not I'll advance to the next day.

Looking to

I've moved things along in the main thread to the following day. Keanala, Kendra is taking 10 on a Heal check to give you 2 CON back instead of 1, so you're back in peak shape if you take it easy for the night.

If anyone would like to investigate that night let me know and I'll break you off into your own thread. I left the IC thread a bit vague, the villagers could be gossiping about more vandalism or they could be gossiping about the PC's actions the previous night.

I'm trying to keep the pace up, this part of the AP seems to have lots of 'We spend the day making knowledge checks or gather information checks' stretches where not much happens so I'm moving from day to day pretty quickly. Still, it's way more important that you get to do everything that you want to do and investigate everything that you want to investigate, so if I brush past a moment where you would have liked to do something else let me know. We can back up or split off into a side thread.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:03, Tue 05 Mar 2019.

That happens in several games....

I've updated the journal with the map of Harrowstone's exterior.

As they go out to the prison Garlands going to stop by the general store, or whoever might have them, and pick up 3 flasks of acid

You don't have any trouble getting acid on the way out of town.

Sorry I got quiet. I had a thought relating to our mysterious piping noises, though not quite sure where to insert it now that we've moved on.

One of the infamous prisoners I helped research was called The Piper of Ilmarsh. Seems like that might be more than a coincidence.

No reason not to mention it whenever you think of it

there I gave you the perfect opportunity

Remember, you can make a DC25 Knowledge: History or Knowledge: Local check to find out more info about any of the five infamous prisoners. ;)

17:23, Today: Garland Van Burke rolled 11 using 1d20+6.  Knowledge local check.
17:22, Today: Garland Van Burke rolled 12 using 1d20+7.  Knowledge history check.

No on both of them. The dice are not with me today. I assume we can only do that once per day and having a place suitible for said research would aid the attempt?

Right. Researching at a library gives you +2 and lets you re-try failed knowledge checks with 8 hours of research. Kendra will Aid Another on this check for an additional +3.

Constantine, you take 3 less damage from the swarm, although the +1 doesn't push you over the DC to avoid being nauseated.

Got it.

Got caught up in school work and looks like I missed quite a bit.  It might be tomorrow before I can post though...

It's fine. Remember, if you get skipped during a combat round you get an additional standard action next round.

Distraction is a fortitude save not will btw, also Murkau is nauseated Shara, can't do anything but move. No flanking on swarms either.

You're 100% right, I should have rolled a fort save for you. Swapping that out does put you up to a 7 on that save, which isn't quite enough to break the nausea.

Moot point though, Shara and Darcon bring down the swarm, which will be reflected in the next GM post.

aww dang and I just did my rolls and got a natural 20, not confrimation for the roll though

Now the vermin have been averted

So detect undead normally has a duration of 1 minute per level. So 2 minutes in Garlands case. How much duration would be left at this point?

Shara rolled really well on her perception and found the key quickly, plus the fight with the rats was over in a couple of rounds. Let's say you have a round or two of Detect Undead left, and I'll be a bit more precise about time frames while people have short term buffs up.

There aren't any visible threats, but Garland detects undead towards the front of the chamber.

You can detect one moderate aura.

I've put up a thread for tracking party loot. Feel free to discuss or claim items in that thread, I'll try to keep track of who's carrying what there as well.

If I recall correctly Constantine claimed those +1 arrows, I couldn't recall if the scrolls were on Garland or Darcon. Assume that Kendra is carrying anything un-claimed.

Yep, Darcon has the scrolls. If no one else minds Drcon would also like to claim the Masterwork Dagger.

Okay, add them to your sheet and I'll take them off of the master loot list.

In sad news for us but happy news for her, Shara's school is picking up and she messaged me to say that she's getting a little to busy to keep playing. She's an NPC for now, sticking to the background.

Got caught up in a final paper for school.  I'll catch up tomorrow.

Okay, take your time.

You guys have peeked into the chapel but haven't fully explored it. Would you like to move on to A4 or clear out the chappel first?

If you guys would like to head back into town let me know, I'll jump the action back there.

Well Garlands thinking that retreat now isnt the worst option, however going ahead ill prepared would be the worst option. Were going to h ave to retreat/research the prisoners at some point were also going to have to stake out the town square and deal with the person vandalizing the area.

Im leaning toward retreat and look into the vandal for now

SCG had paused long enough to assess his injuries and decide on using more lay on hands or going with a break from the action obviously this scorching Ray is no joke

Updated my post in the game thread

So sorry for the delay in responding, I've been having some technical difficulties accessing the game. I'll get a GM post up at around the usual time, noonish, and move the action back to town.

I was also unable to log on for a few days

Im still getting lots of 404 errors

Anyway, Garland will burn the rest of his energy channel and last two spells for healing.

14:15, Today: Garland Van Burke rolled 7 using 1d8+1.  Cure light wounds.

14:08, Today: Garland Van Burke rolled 3 using 1d8+1.  Cure light wounds.

14:08, Today: Garland Van Burke rolled 6 using 1d6+1.  channel energy.

I was hit with login problems as well.

Sorry for the delay in posting, my hardrive fried and I've been working on getting it fixed for much of the last week (and eventually getting a new one :( )

Do we know the names of the prisoners that possessed the cursed items? and/or that the warden prevented escaping in the fire? and any details about them before in depth research? I noticed theres nothing in the journal but I thought we at least knew some names

That aside, I think I came across a vital clue while reviewing the notes. Our killer has painted "Vesor" in blood. While I was reviewing the staff that perished in the fire I found a name that jumped out at me: Vesorianna Hawkran

Good catch it is certainly the most likely name being spelled out

You don't know which prisoner corresponds to which item, although you may be able to guess.

The five infamous prisoners are:

The Mosswater Marauder

The Lopper

The Piper of Illmarsh

Father Charlatan

The Splatterman

Each one is a DC25 Knowledge: History or Knowledge: Local check. Bear in mind that you get +4 for the town library, +4 for the records from the offices in the prison, +4 for the records from the warden's office, and Kendra can assist research for +3 (She has the Helpful trait). So you can spend the day making a research check at +15. Because this is a research check and not a basic knowledge check anyone can make it untrained.

You have quite a few details about the night of the fire. Prior to the conflagration the prisoners, lead by the infamous five, had rioted and taken control of the dungeon below the prison. Warden Hawkran triggered the deadfall that collapsed the stairs (A9), trapping him and several of his guards with the prisoners but preventing their escape.

The prisoners took him and the guards hostage and demanded that the remaining guards above lower the freight lift, the burned out remains of which you found in A4. When the guards refused the prisoners began to climb up the shaft. In a panicked, ill-thought attempt to stop them the guards poured fuel oil down the shaft and threw down a torch, starting the deadly fire.

Hmmm, Warden Hawkren and Vesorina Hawkren. That cant be a cooincidence. Do we know the relationship between the two and how he/she was involved at the prison?

Just checking, can we just take 10 on research checks thus gaining the +15 bonus and nailing the DC 25?

Either way Garlands going to sleep for eight hours and rearrange his spells. Tonight hes hunting a killer one that he hopes to take alive. With all the ghostly stuff going on I have a feeling this is a case of possession by one of our big five.

Anyone not needing to redo spells should really make those research checks, I feel like we've wasted a lot of time by not doing those

You know that Vesoriana was the warden's wife. She wasn't on the prison staff though, which is why her name appears on the list of casualties but not on the monument.

Yes, you can take 10 on those research checks.

You discover the murder the following day, after the excursion to the prison, so you'll have rested and regained all of your spells. The discovery of the body was very early in the morning so it's fine if you meditate after that and pick a new spell list.

You can definitely rest if you want to, but you can also spend the day doing research on the prison or investigating the murder and still have plenty of time to try and catch the vandal at night.

After Garland speaks with Father Grimburrow and talks to the party about his plans to hunt down the killer tonight he will Grab Kendra, go to the town library and do some research. I guess he will start at the bottom of the list and work his way up

So Splatterman gets to be first

20:41, Today: Garland Van Burke rolled 28 using 1d20+22.  Knowledge history check.

You might ask, how do I have a +22 bonus? The answer is +15 from all the bonuses, then +7 from his own knowledge history bonuses. I have to roll a 3 to fail that check with all that going

If nobody has anything else they'd like to do during the day I'll move things along to the stakeout at night. If you're spending the day researching let me know which ghost you're looking into and I'll put the results of your check up in the journal thread.

You can auto-pass by taking 10 but I'll add a little incentive to roll it: if you pass the DC by 5 or more you can pick a second ghost to research.

Hope no one is too put off by SCG insisting on facing down danger...

Pick where you'd like to deploy, I've updated the Journal thread with the results of Garland's knowledge check.

Hope that the rest of you can run faster than Keanala.  :)

Wait, if visibility is limited to 30', then is Darcon the only one who can see the mysterious figure?
This message was last edited by the player at 02:49, Fri 10 May 2019.

Yes, Constantine is the only one who can see them right now, although you can assume that he calls out the location so that you can move in.

Is it too late to try and make the figure believe I did fall asleep?

That might require some editing...

It isn't, you can roll a bluff check if you would like.

Untrained but charisma is my best attribute

Ill wait till we see if the stranger fell for Constantines buff. Garland is pretty much readying an action to cast touch of mercy on Keanala so she does nonlethal

I went with the assumption SGC called out the location allowing Darcon to move forward...should I edit?

Constantine's bluff does work, but you can still cast sleep on the figure in the mist. You're also welcome to edit your post up until I get the GM post at noon-ish.

I'll still cast it then, since if it works it will allow us to take the victim alive for questioning. We can assume Darcon waited until the figure came into sight and then cast the spell, or however you want to play it, since I am not sure how it will react to SGC's bluff.

GM post is up. Constantine got off his bluff, Darcon got off his spell (although Gibs resisted), and now we're into combat proper.

Looks like a hit to me....

I am waiting to see what effect if any the merciful smite has on this man....

Your merciful smite definitely affects him.

Quick question: Can Darcon determine the location of the Conjuration (CL8) in the mists?

You detect that the mist itself is magical in nature. In fact it is veeeery similar to what you would detect if someone cast obscuring mist

A couple of things in the interest of speeding up this combat: remember that if you get skipped you get two standard actions the following round. I also haven't been rolling AoOs for you, when an AoO is prompted you should take it on your following turn.

This time I'll let you take them retroactively, so Constantine gets two actions this round and Constantine, Garland, and Keanala each get an AoO.

I will wait on the AoO until someone else gets to post.....or skip it

Congratulations, combat is over and you've defeated the monument vandal!

Let's do a little book keeping and admin.

First, a head count. Who is present, active, and still able to participate in the game? We may be paring down a few characters and possibly adding some more.

There's one definite change to our house rules and one potential change to our house rules.

The skipped turn rule is amended as follows: If you miss a turn in combat you still get two standard actions the following turn. Now, if you miss two turns in combat I will take over and NPC your character for that round.

There's another house rule that we could add with an eye to speeding up combat, which tends drag a little bit in PbP games like this: Tension. Tension starts at 0 and goes up by 2 each round. You add the tension value to all attack rolls. So round one you attack as normal, round two all attacks are at +2, round three all attacks are at +4, etc.

It means that eventually everyone, monsters and heroes, will be hitting their attacks pretty much every time. It increases the stakes and makes the decision to power through or retreat from a bad situation more weighty, and it means that fights will end sooner, one way or another.

Because this is a pretty significant change to the basic rules of Pathfinder we won't implement it unless everyone's on board with it.

Well, just to give my opinion: The Tension rule can make things wonky. I totally get why you propose this, and the fact it applies to both PC and Enemies helps even things out but it will still cause some problems such as defensive spells not being useful (why should Darcon waste a round casting Shield or Mage Armor, or two rounds using both when they will be nullified in another round anyway by the cascading Attack Bonuses); spells that don't use attack bonuses will be nerfed, tactical decisions like Flanking, certain Feats and class abilities will likewise be nerfed.

I thing adding in more players who post regularly, especially during combat, should mitigate the need for the cascading attack bonuses. Furthermore since you are adapting this adventure for PbP you can weed out the needless 'filler' combat, and just give us key encounters for advancing the story (xp awards for these can be increased to make up for the lesser number of encounters)

We have had multiple combats in this game and this is the only one where it dragged on, but that was due in part to the fact that not everyone was posting every round in conjunction with the fact that we were trying to take him alive (Darcon didn't use a damage dealing spell and his class ability for this reason both of which would have ended the combat earlier)
This message was last edited by the player at 17:56, Tue 21 May 2019.

I agree non lethal combat should drag a bit as people are trying not to kill the combatant: which is one reason those spells like dominate person suck so bad.  I usually substitute confusion instead of full on NPCing a PC.

The Tension rule is intriguing, but I think that I agree with Darcon that it would really change the way that defensive spells are used.

Am I the only one who thinks the warden murdered his wife with a razor and wrote her name in blood somewhere...

Alternate theory is that it is professional jealosy as the barbers were replaced by cosmotologists; matriarchy verus patriarchy; matricide versus patricide....

Some excellent points, looks like we'll table the tension system.

We have four active players, some regular posters and some intermittent posters, and we're close enough to the end of book one that I'd rather hold off on adding new players for a short while. We'll keep going as-is for now.

well Im still here. I dont plan on going anywhere and I agree that the tension idea, while intriguing doesnt sound like it would fit well into this particular game.

Ok suggesting three things simultaneously
1. Safety/security of prisoner
2.  Security of the scene
3. A trip to the man’s house

Are all three deputies with us?  SCG will use/order them to assist

I've updated the Chapter 1 thread and added a thread for Constantine's investigation.

Anyone accompanying Garland to assist with the exorcism should post in Chapter 1, link to a message in this game.

Anyone accompanying Constantine to investigate the square, the town, and Gibs' shack should post in Chapter 1.4, link to a message in this game.

---

Edited: Constantine, the deputies are not with you. Without Sheriff Caeler to marshal them they are too afraid to venture out at night. If you try to round them up you can attempt a Diplomacy check to convince them to adhere to their duty and back you up.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:10, Thu 23 May 2019.

Since the threads are re-converging we'll move things back into the Chapter 1 thread.

Constantine I'll factor this into your results, but now that you've provided Gibs with concrete evidence of his crimes you'll get +4 to diplomacy checks to get him to cooperate with you.

Looks like magic might also be helping in securing cooperation... ; )

Ask Gibs any extra questions that you'd like, then Kendra will take him to the temple. Feel free to discuss or investigate as much as you would like, once you're done we'll move things along to the following day.

Sticking with Paladin for next level...

Trying to remember if we take full, roll or average for hit points.

I will probably take the mercy of removing fatigue...imho if someone has to sleep in heavy armor it is good option...


Feat ferocious resolve....

Almost updated to level 3
This message was last edited by the player at 00:44, Wed 12 June 2019.

You can roll or take average, whichever you would prefer.

Took average.

I am updated looks like some new mercies and connected mercies came to the Paladin in the Healers Handbook!

I've updated the Journal thread with the results of Garland's knowledge checks on the remaining prisoners at Harrowstone.

Have we found an answer to the following questions which are plaguing Darcon's (and his players' ;) ) mind:



If Darcon needs to make any knowledge checks to get these answers I can attempt them, or perhaps Kendra can provide some insight? I'm just having trouble figuring out why the spirits of those prisoners would remain after their bodies perished in the fire, or is that something we have yet to uncover?

Everyone in the party has at least some ranks in Knowledge: Religion, and you've been doing so much research on ghosts in general and the prisoners specifically that you won't have to make a check.

Ghosts can be created by necromantic magic like create greater undead, but more commonly they are created when someone dies in exceptional circumstances. A violent death, a creature killed while driven by unfinished business, someone who dies in the throes of intense sadness or longing or anger can all cause the deceased to linger on as a ghost.

Like most undead almost all ghosts have a violent hatred for the living, and you know that in the case of Harrowstone the ghosts were murderers and evil men before they perished.

Ghosts can have a variety of unique and terrifying powers, usually tied to their death or to the abilities that they had in life. So far it seems like the ghosts can reach out to affect the town. You have personally faced some of these haunts, like the possessed Gibs.

Getting rid of ghosts can be difficult. Simply defeating a ghost in combat will usually only disperse their energies, they will typically re-form within 2d4 days. Using something tied to them or their deaths to defeat them is a permanent solution, as is discovering and resolving the unfinished business that keeps them on the mortal plane.

So you know the manner in which they possess their victims (ghost can just do stuff like that), why they were chosen and how they cling to the mortal plane (the Harrowstone fire was a traumatic event likely to create ghosts in any case, and these five were the most powerful and malevolent souls that perished).

You also know why they would seek vengeance, undead hate the living in general and these ghosts were murderers and maniacs.

The most odd question is: If the Harrowstone fire was fifty years ago, why have the ghosts begun affecting the town so strongly only now? You know that any ghost killed in the fire would have manifested within a couple of days of the event.

You know that the prison has a reputation for being haunted, people reporting hearing a woman sobbing in the walls at night, but were no hauntings and supernatural incidents until the night the Professor died.

Is everyone single class?

Will try to post some ideas for working as a team in the game thread......at some point

Thanks GM, that helps clear things up for me (and Darcon!) :)

Hi folks.  I'm fighting a cold which has pretty much knocked the wind out of my sails so I'm a little behind.

Ooosh, hope you get feeling better soon.

So planning ahead and was thinking for a redeemer Paladin this feat will be a good one for the future...

Walker Among Evil

Your purity always remains a blessing, even when you’re surrounded by creatures that despise it.
Prerequisites: 5 or more Hit Dice, good alignment.
Benefit: You can alter the essence of your being to lessen the effects of spells designed to harm good creatures. When affected by spells and effects that behave differently according to alignment (such as unholy word or protection from good), you can choose whether you are considered good or neutral. This ability does not actually change your alignment or fool divinations, nor does it permit you to overcome alignment requirements for the use of magic items, class abilities, and so on.

Section 15: Copyright Notice
Pathfinder Player Companion: Champions of Purity

Walker Among Evil is fine to take but you don't qualify yet, you only have 3 HD. You can take it at level five though.

Is the plan to head up to the prison tonight or the following morning? It's early afternoon in game at the moment, plenty of time to rest up for the nights adventures; or do a research check on whatever topic you'd like if you're planning on going in the morning.

Darcon, if you have further questions or investigations at the Unfurling Scroll or elsewhere I'll split you off into your own thread.

I was waiting to hear the same thing about the plans.

I think it would be better to move on the prison sooner rather then later but Im open to suggestions if somsone feels theres something more pressing

My plan was either
1) return to the prison tonight or
2) return in the morning

If morning SCG was going to rest (lunch until 8 pm) and then patrol the town overnight (to both help and influence the guard and towns towards helpful...)
It would be fine for the DM to skip over it unless something happens in the village tonight.

Also we have not obtained any additional funds that might allow us to buy holy water and/or scrolls; or a new shield...
This message was last edited by the player at 11:22, Tue 25 June 2019.

We have a little over 700 gold in the party loot thats not been touched. A simple large wooden shield wouldnt cost much. Holy water is a little more spendy but just making 4 vials seems feasible. I can prepare the spell anytime

Also just as a note, I still have 2 of the three acid flasks I got at the start

Already have a heavy wooden shield.

Focus I guess on the holy water and possibly having the ability to make more on hand would work

Constantine chimed in with an either-or and Garland chimed in with a slight preference for sooner rather than later, so it looks like the 'go to the prison tonight' crew takes it by a hair. It was a close vote though, one 'meh' off.

Can I use the party gold to purchase some items? I believe our gold equals 1224. We also have valuables worth a total of 415gp if we can manage to sell them off.

Darcon would like to purchase both the scrolls from Alendru (300gp); also I would like to purchase a couple of 1st & 2nd level scrolls as well (400gp) if everyone is ok with that.

Also Darcon would like to take 1 potion of CMW from the party loot pool for himself if no one objects.

Regarding the notes, can we assume Kendra to carry them?
This message was last edited by the player at 20:31, Tue 25 June 2019.

The loot items from the prison are trade goods, you don't have any trouble selling them and you can do so as part of your book keeping if you would like.

I'll update the loot sheet with the next GM post, let me know what scrolls you're buying.

And yes, Kendra has the notes.

I think we already decided to spend 100g of that pool on holy water giving each one of us a single vial.

Dividing up those potions so every character has at least one emergency healing potion is a smart idea and Im all for it.

That said, having any one party member spend almost our entire currency on non-renewable resources doesnt sit well with me. If you want to purchase the two scrolls of Alendu Im fine with that but anything more seems excessive to me unless you have a particular plan for their use

SCG default is to trust the judgement of his companions in making purchases in their purview of expertise and would expect any concerns to be expressed and worked out between the two parties impacted by the decision(s).

If asked he would want to hear the reasoning and would only offer an opinion if he thought it would be a benefit to the party as a whole.

Just getting over an illness that knocked me for a bit of a loop.  Still in pain but trying to get more functional online to catch up on school and Work.  Hoping to catch up in the next day or so.

Hope you get feeling better.

Yes it would be great to have you back and in action


Also anyone within 10 feet is within my aura of courage....FYI
This message was last edited by the player at 16:14, Fri 28 June 2019.

I want to get spell scrolls to add to my spellbook. Spells that could come in handy in a variety of situations.

Meaning that possibly you could learn the spells add them to your Spellbook and resell the scrolls on the market.
Might be a good idea to try and get the old wizard to being a friend or make a straight up offer to examine his Spellbook.

Sounds like an investment in the group to me.  Also a good discussion to have in character when we return from the prison

Transcribing a spell from a scroll to a spellbook uses up the scroll as if it had been cast. You can copy spells from another wizard's spellbook for a fee though, which isn't too steep.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/Magic/...ell-into-a-Spellbook

It's 10gp for a 1st lvl spell and 40gp for a 2nd lvl spell.

The spells that Alendru has in his spellbook are:

0th lvl
All except for Illusion and Divination cantrips

1st lvl
Alarm
Mage Armor
Alter Winds
Crafter's Fortune
Erase
Feather Fall
Jury-Rig
Enlarge Person

2nd lvl
Aboleth's Lung
Darkvision
Fox's Cunning
Levitate
Telekinetic Volley

---

Edited: I'll also update the Journal thread with this list if you'd like to peruse it later, it will be Maps section under the Unfurling Scroll's entry.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:13, Mon 01 July 2019.

I'm thinking of making a slight change, more of a party preference thing than a house rule. If it seems like you're keen on exploring but don't have a specific destination in mind I'll just pick one for you and move you there. Hopefully that will cut down on lag time like the last couple of posts, basically saving a day IRL by cutting out a couple of "Where do you want to go? Room X." posts.

It may take away a bit of agency, but it should make dungeon crawling faster if everyone's okay with that.

I've reorganized the Party Loot thread. The first post is now the total of what you have available. Subsequent posts will still be 'what you got and where you got it' posts.

I don't think I got any word on whether you were going to spend party gold on scrolls before you left town, so for now you have all your money and no additional scrolls. If you'd like to sell trade goods and parcel out gold let me know and I'll update the loot sheet.

Ill take that wand of lesser restoration as I dont think anyone else can use it

I'll remove it from the loot sheet, be sure to track your charges.

In other news you've just encountered your first of the five spirits! Good luck!

Constantine, be sure you include a crunch section of your post where you let me know what you're doing with your actions in combat. Moving where, what you roll on attacks, etc.

Quick question: Don't we get a free AoO each when the Stirges are attaching themselves? Also, does Darcon get the +3 bonus to attacks on the Stirge attached to him due to Kendra's aid another?

@GM: I'll send you an update on the scrolls purchased/spells copied from Alendru's spellbook later on tonight. Also Darcon took a potion of CMW earlier and a potion of CLW & 1 antitoxin during our current exploration so you may want to incorporate that into the loot thread.

Yes, you're right. Tiny creatures should provoke an AoO when moving into your square to attack you. Sorry for not catching that earlier.

We aren't going to ret-con a bunch of combat actions, but anyone with a stirge attached can make one free attack against it right now. Because you were attacked on different turns you can make one attack against each stirge attached to you, even if you don't have Combat Reflexes.

Yes, you do get the +3 to attack the stirged currently draining you.

I've edited my last post, I forgot that you guys picked 100gp worth of holy water before you headed to the prison.

By 'Search the room and withdraw' do you mean to search the eastern cell block where you currently are, or to search the western cell block on the other side of the prison? As of right now you have already completed a search of the Mess Hall, Kitchen, and Eastern Cellblock areas of the upper floor.

Garland meant the immediate area as he is concerned with how much blood loss (read: constitution damage) everyone has taken and who knows how many more stirges could be in the area.

Ill change up Garlands spell list for the day too so he can heal some of that damage. Are there more topics to research? I thought we had covered all the spirits and harrowstone itself...I suppose there could be Vessorina herself. Im not entirely convinced shes as harmless as she makes herself out to be.

Actually with the amount of damage everyones taken I think Garland will be better used providing longterm care to everyone. Per the skill he can care for up to six people at once so everyone that chooses to rest will be restored

12:18, Today: Garland Van Burke rolled 26 using 1d20+9.  Provide Long term care.

It figures anytime in combat hes awful but he nails skill rolls easily. So anyone resting for 8 hours (the time it takes to provide long term care) heals 2 hp per level or 2 ability damage. Anyone resting a full day heals 4 hp per level or 4 ability score damage. After that healing process is complete he will use any charges he has on the wand of restoration if you guys want it.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:00, Fri 19 July 2019.

Father Grimburrow can also help, if you want to save your spell slots for exploration related spells. He's already prepped for today, but he can prepare lesser restoration in all of his lvl 2 slots and cast it on you in the morning.

Looking forward to a little shopping
I am hoping to find a living steel heavy shield and maybe some bandages of healing.

I am hoping the dwarf has such a shield handy...

Yes, you'll be able to get any mundane gear or weapons that you need from Jorfa at the forge.

I think an even split will be fine. Garland wants to get a masterwork breastplate made and he will need that 384 to make it happen

Troll styptic looks like a fun item.

Vermin repellent might be good too for 5 gold....

Unless anyone has other plans I'll move the action back up to the prison with the next GM post.

Wow this is intense, what a shocker of a GM post to read right as I was getting ready for bed. Sorry for posting in the main thread post demise, but as its an Immediate Action I thought its justified (as technically Darcon has not died yet as he takes the immediate action)

Your ability does trigger correctly but, unfortunately, it isn't enough to save your life. You still die. :(

So the map puts me right behind Darcon, is it possible that a swift action to lay on hands would be enough to keep the mage alive

Or is it a done deal?

You can certainly give it a shot, at this point it couldn't hurt.

Let me use a channel instead, even if Darcon is dead dead, itll heal our characters

PSYCHE!

Darcon, you are not dead, but have in fact succumbed to the haunt that you picked up on the upper floor. I think it's a really neat encounter, the AP actually tells you to send whichever player "died" out of the room and jump back and forth between their encounter and the rest of the party's.

I'm not a big fan of meta-game secrecy, it's more fun when you can see what's happening in other threads even if you aren't there, but I figured I would let you stew for a day for impact. ;)

Since your "death" wasn't actually caused by an attack you can have the spell slot that you spent on windy escape back.

Ha, I had begun to suspect the spirit/haunt was responsible for Darcon's current predicament, but only earlier today as I was thinking about this after Windy Escape failed, I thought either it either increased the amount of damage the ectoplasmic undead attacks did or something else. That and the fact Darcon's waking up in a coffin in the other thread. ;)

But an impact it did have, I was already mourning Darcon and wondering what new PC to roll up. A truly evil encounter type, though I don't believe its over yet; Darcon is still in a state of paralysis in the main thread correct, until he resolves whatever is happening in the other thread?

Glad to know I made an impact!

That's correct, you're unconscious and unable to act in the main thread but can act freely in your side thread. You're cramped but not bound, you can cast spells with Somatic components with a DC10 concentration check. You have only your clothing though, so no arcane focus or spell component pouch.

Guys, Darcon has very few hit-points remaining. Some healing would be a lifesaver just about now.

Granted

looking like we might be forced into a pit stop
This message was last edited by the player at 00:50, Tue 13 Aug 2019.

If you need some more just say so, Ive still got 3 channels for the day

Thanks guys, and yes Garland Darcon will need more. He's in a better place now than before but at half hp. Two good rolls by the haunt and he will be dead.

I think I have one lay on hands left and took some damage so...

Darcon has all his spells still remaining, while Garland I believe has a Wand of CLW & a Wand of Restoration. I think we can take another one of the haunts before having to retreat and rest.

However since there are only 3 of us left I think the GM will have to amend the encounters a bit, as the APs are designed for a 4 person party if I am not wrong.

I'm just not sure about Darcon's remainder HPs, they could either be full or at half, depending on whether Garlands last heal both healed Darcon and damaged the haunt or only did damage to the haunt.

You got healed by Constantine for 6 but Garland was using his spells to damage undead rather than heal. Currently Darcon has 1 damage and Constantine has 7 damage.

If you guys want I can expend another channel, just say the word

It does look like we've lost Keanala, but we're so close to the end of the book that I'm going to hold of on looking for replacement players for now. We'll re-stock at the start of book 2.

Fast healing 2 for 2d4 rounds is pretty good for a mundane item.

Unless the road ahead does us all in...

Unless Garland would like to use CLW wand on me instead?
This message was last edited by the player at 15:02, Fri 16 Aug 2019.

Sure I can use a charge

11:55, Today: Garland Van Burke rolled 6 using 1d8+1.  Cure light wounds.

Its still got 20 charges left

Can’t get better than a natural 20 on a perception check

Where would you like to explore next?

I think Garland and Constantine both agree that it would be best to retreat and rest for now

Cool, I'll move things back to town in the next GM post.

Out of curiousity what gods are represented in the set of holy symbols?

All of the common deities of the inner sea region are represented, Father Charlatan presented himself as a priest of whichever god had the biggest following in any community that he targeted. Pharasma, Sarenrae, Iomedae, Erastil, etc. are all represented. The platinum holy symbol is Abadar, whose clerics would be most impressed by such ostentation.

SCG is probably going to pass on the platinum holy symbol.

Once he is better rested he is going to suggest trading the hammer to Jorfa  at the forge; that’s a lot of weapons and armor...

If you have investigations or actions you'd like to take in town let me know, otherwise I'll move the action back up to the prison.

Let me know where you would like to explore, or sit tight and I'll move you guys in to fight the haunt in the torture chamber with the next GM post.

This looks like a guy who needs a good smite down....

Since I have played (a tradition of half orc rouge sneak attacking with a great axe) since first edition; he looks very dangerous ...

He definitely is. It's hackin', slashin' time.

My favorite question was when someone would invariably ask “how does that work?”

One answer was slamming the handle into the top of their foot and using that opening to punch the axe into their face...

As an addendum to my last post:

---

Darcon will make a Knowledge (Religion) roll as a Free Action after his actions in the last combat round to try and figure out if his Protection from Evil spell will prevent bodily contact from the Lopper. If the knowledge roll reveals anything else (such as a vulnerability Darcon didn't know) about the Lopper that would be great too!

(not sure if Knowledge Arcana would be more useful in determining this so making that roll too)


02:30, Today: Darcon rolled 15 using 1d20+8.  Knowledge (Religion).
02:32, Today: Darcon rolled 25 using 1d20+10.  Knowledge (Arcana).

Your Knowledge(Religion) doesn't tell you much about The Lopper that you haven't already learned from your studies of the prison, and your Knowledge(Arcana) unfortunately doesn't apply to him. He's a maniac, died in the fire, the traumatic nature of his death caused him to return as a spirit, etc.

From a tactical standpoint you aren't able to glean much either. You can tell that he's some variety of incorporeal undead, probably a ghost or wraith or something of the like, but that's more from observation than from the results of your check. You feel like you are definitely getting the AC bonus from Protection from Evil but he will still be able to touch you with his ghostly axe. He wasn't magically stopped from hitting you, he just missed.

You do know that using an object strongly tied to him in life would be an excellent way to hurt or disable him, but you seem to be doing pretty well with force magic and positive energy without that edge.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:04, Wed 11 Sept 2019.

Whoops! Looks like I messed up the map coordinates when I shifted things around. Hopefully everybody is in the correct spot at the moment.

Darcon, if I'm mistaken about your air elemental being unable to damage incorporeal foes let me know.

---

On a logistical note I'll be going on vacation next week starting on the 18th. We'll miss about a week and a half of posts, I'll be back on the 28th. I may be able to post from my phone but it's probably best to just think of us being on break for a week or so.

Wish me luck in Paris!

---

You guys are very close to finishing the module, as you know you have one significant threat yet to face after the Lopper and then perhaps a bit of investigation and wrap up. I don't want to recruit new players and then leave them hanging with nothing fun to do so I'll wait until we're nearly ready to jump into book 2 before I start recruiting. Pathfinder and DnD slots fill up fast.

I also won't wait so long to bring in new players in the future. In this case I've held off because we're so close to finishing book 1 and the start of book 2 is a great jumping in point for new players.

You're right, elementals cannot affect incorporeal foes at all. :(

And have fun on your vacation! :)

No worries, it looks like we will try and finish up soonish and move on.

Have a great vacation!

Welcome to coffee talk where we can discuss anything while our hearty DM is away.

I'm a tea man myself but what the heck.

What's everyone's opinion on Pathfinder 2e?

Yikes I am totally out of the loop on PF 2e; looks like I can watch a YouTube video and get caught up though.

honestly, I havnt even looked at it yet. I am of the opinion that Pathfinder didnt need a new edition because 1st edition plays fine. Off the top of my head the only thing that really needed a rework in 1e is the crafting system. Not only that but you basicly loose access to a lot of the great stuff that those editions already had out. I think it will take years for 2e to catch up to the vast information and variety that 1e had so Im not to eager to make the jump right now.

I find myself in a similar position I was in 10+ years ago when 4th edition came out. The difference is I had actually read through the 4th edition rules before I expressed concern in WotC (and their flippant and uncaring response made me boycott them). Paizo creating pathfinder is why they gained so much good will from me. They saw there was a huge community not wanting anything to do with 4th edition and they seized that opportunity (and Im sure they were looking for new revenue after WotC pulled dungeon and dragon magazine from them). There's a lot of history there but its important history to me.

Don't get me wrong, I want to give 2e a fair chance just like I did 4th edition but so far Ive been finding myself content to just keep playing 1e. Ill read 2E when I get around to it but its probably going to be a long ways off.

To me 1e and 2e are not versions of Pathfinder....ouch my head

Just got back from my awesome vacation! We saw the colosseum and the forum, took day trips to Venice and Pompeii, I got to spend a ton of time with my family. It was absolutely stupendous. Now I'm back, jet lagged, and looking forward to some time to relax after my relaxing vacation.

It looks like the general consensus is to head up and talk to Vesorianna and then camp at the prison. I'll move the action back upstairs.

Oh, and 2nd ed looks neat, but I'm a bigger fan of 1st.

Welcome back!

Good that you were able to spend time with the family and have fun.

Yeah I'm not really impressed by PF2e at all; I don't like the massive numbers at higher levels, not only skills and attacks but AC too, even if the character is unarmored. I also don't like that by default higher level PCs are all but immune to even hordes of lower level monsters.

At least in PF1 lower level monsters are still threats in groups (though PCs will still have the advantage due to high hit-points from being high level, but not as much as in PF2e it would seem)

Great news!

Not sure about a second edition though my main question would be “feat taxes” as I prefer stand alone feats

I am looking to replace a couple players in my kingmaker game if your interested let me know.  DM included...

This game is probably be going to be getting busy in the next couple of weeks so I think I'll have to pass.

I made some minor mistakes when tracking your will saves which I'll elucidate here since it may be important for figuring out how to beat the haunt. Each round you make a will save, if you fail you take 2 wis damage and a letter of your name appears. I had forgotten that you had protection from evil and failed Darcon when he should have passed, corrected the crunch, but forgot to edit the fluff post. I'll leave old posts as they are to avoid ret-confusion, but technically the only letters on the wall should be D and GA.

I think Ive got time for another game. Before I say anything else I will warn y ou that I have GMed and completed the entire campaign before. I understand if thats a deal breaker for you but I do my best not to metagame.

Assuming your ok with that. Whats the group need and where are you with it?

Feel free to have a look for yourself:


<url=link to a message in another game link /url>

I lost the player for RAZ (nickname) a thundercaller bard; but would be receptive to a new character.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:09, Fri 11 Oct 2019.

Sorry for the missed GM post this afternoon. I've posted now, but because there's less than the usual time for people to respond I'll hold off on putting up a GM post tomorrow unless everyone has responded by around noon. If there isn't a GM post tomorrow then I'll put one up on Saturday regardless.

I made a mistake in the last GM post, the Splatterman moved out of the wall but I forgot to remove the partial cover bonus for being obscured. His AC should have been 2 lower, which means that both Garland and Constantine would have hit. I rolled damage for both of you.

Congratulations on defeating the Splatterman! You all level up to level 4.

Lots of stuff happening for this level


Are we planning to go into downtime or roleplay through the time?

Convinced the dice roller is cursed
This message was last edited by the player at 14:13, Mon 28 Oct 2019.

We'll continue to roleplay through the aftermath of your victory at the prison, then move on to book two! Wooo!

I am still working on leveling, we will have to divy up and sell off stuff I am going to recommend that we do that in the OOC thread, so we don't clog up the other one.

Looking forward to meeting new party members as well for book 2!

Here's what let's do: Everyone take a look at the loot sheet and let me know what you want, I'll liquidate everything else. If there's anything that you don't want for your character specifically but think it would be nice to keep (like the rope of climbing or the stone of alarm) let me know and I'll transfer it to the new Chapter 2 loot sheet.

At the end of the process everything currently on the loot sheet should be in your individual inventories, transferred to the party loot for chapter 2, or liquidated and divvied up.

Also, due to your tutelage and her part in your adventures Kendra levels up as well! She's now a level 1 Investigator (spiritualist).

So a rapier is the right weapon!
Can we also allocate her some gear/ treasure to hersuch as MW chain shirt;


As for myself perhaps the +1 long sword
As much fun as I had with the handaxe it is too greedy to claim it

I do suggest the party loot thread stay alive with healing items and other stuff

I will probably get a MW armored coat before leaving; and go from short bow to longbow
Do we want to repair the heavy crossbow?
Buy a wagon?


Will be selecting my first Paladin spell as well
Have some interesting choices in mind!
This message was last edited by the player at 12:40, Wed 30 Oct 2019.

Looking over the party loot I see a few things Garland can use.

The gravewatch pendant seems right up his alley. He'll also take the +1 crossbow bolts. Looking through the loot he already claimed the +1 heavy mace

I also recommend we keep the stone of alarm and rope of climbing

Big welcome to our new players!

We're joined by streetwise witch Shade, traveling bard Jonah, and grizzled gravedigger Vadim.

Introduce yourselves, discuss your characters mechanically and thematically, and if you can try to submit a character sheet this weekend or early next week at the latest.

Once we have character sheets for our new players we'll be ready to kick off chapter 2. If we haven't quite finished wrapping up things in Ravengro by that time we'll run that concurrently.

Hello to everyone!  I'll be playing Shade, a native of Lepidstadt, ex-street urchin, ex-criminal, now making her living by trying to aid the people of her poor neighborhood as she tries to give back to the people she often took advantage of in the past.  Mechanically I'll be a witch with the alley witch archetype, likely will be human, and I shall have a cat familiar.  (The "of Lonwood" is a little neighborhood where she hails from.)

Look forward to the actual meeting.

One half orc redeemer Paladin raised by dwarves at your service

Regarding loot, Darcon already has the spellbook and also had previously taken a potion of CMW & 1 potion of CLW. He'll also take the Pearl of Power I. Aside from that and what he already had from the loot, he'll take a potion of Lesser Restoration,  another potion of CMW, a potion of CLW, and 1 vial of Antitoxin.

I suggest any leftover potions & vials that no one wants be moved over to the chapter 2 loot thread as party loot, they can always come in handy. Once the remainder items are liquidated can you let us know our individual gold, so Darcon can purchase some scrolls from Alendru?

Regarding leveling up to level 4, I'll level up Darcon over the coming weekend.

Oh and welcome to Shade, it will be interesting to have a Witch on board! Welcome to all other new players as well. :)

Salutations! Just a quick hello, still reading through the threads and enjoying them greatly. Looking forward to meeting characters old and new in-game.

At this stage I'm picturing a Brawler/Fighter deal; I was leaning towards half-orc as well, which I think could prove interesting under the circumstances. Melee oriented.

Late middle age, career gravedigger with a taciturn bent, known to work as a bailiff at the courts from time to time and to assist at the mortuary/morgue as required.

Sounds like some great additions to the party as well.

Did anyone decide on the other magic items?  Personally I have no use for the spirit planchette.  We also have pipes of sounding and some other minor items.  The crafting hammer also...or sell it?

I will post my full list once we figure it all out.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:38, Fri 01 Nov 2019.

Lovely!  I shall hide behind you a lot.  :)

My character is a good liar, imitator, disguise expert, curser and de-buffer. She also has some healing magic, so if our paladin and cleric are busy smiting and warding off undead, we are not without resources for keeping people from bleeding out!

I've liquidated most of what's in the Chapter 1 loot sheet and moved it over to Chapter 2.

Your individual takes are 2853gp.

Greetings new players. Im playing Garland, a Pharasman cleric who is a doctor, healer, and scholar but almost useless in combat as the last book showed us. Im looking forward to playing with you all!

Oh and I finished Garlands level up, not much going on for a cleric at level 4. Pretty much just a new 2nd level spell slot
This message was last edited by the player at 19:40, Fri 01 Nov 2019.

I am more than ready to share frontline duty!

Also glad to get another healer (witch is my favorite healer to play)

Just upgraded my armored coat to masterwork and upgraded my short bow to a MW longbow composite (+1).


Garland I thought we found you a +1 magic weapon?

I anticipate that all of this healing will come in very useful indeed, as I may start out a bit of a soft target.  In terms of skill-set, carrying heavy loads, familiarity with Lepidstadt, and max ranks in Profession: Gravedigger are the highlights of the resume.  That along with hitting things reasonably hard with whatever's to hand, and trying out Martial Flexibility for the first time - any suggestions on the latter will be received with gratitude. Debuffs and magical support should go along well with combat manoeuvres, which I'm hoping to play with.

Does Sir Constantine openly carry/display the symbol of any particular deity? (Sorry if I missed that in the threads somewhere.)

I am a much softer target than most
Armored coat; armored kilt and a living steel heavy shield
I hope it keeps me a target instead of going for squishy caster types.
And it is way easier to put on and take off.

If you stay close i radiate an aura of courage.  One of my backgrounds is justicar.

Abadar
And yes I just gained the ability to channel energy (unlikely to use it; as i am bad at it and takes away from my lay on hands.
And I have one spell (most likely I will use it for the keep watch spell...so I can Paladin 24/7 and even spellcasters can stay up too).

My ability scores are average; except charisma which I just bumped to 17


Anything else?

Chapter 2 is officially up and started! You're in a waiting room at the moment about to be shown in to see the Judge, you have an opportunity to introduce yourselves in-character. Everyone is welcome to post, but if you haven't yet submitted a hard character sheet you will auto-fail any checks or rolls that you make.

I've also put up Chapter 2.1 to sort of transition Garland, Constantine and Darcon over from chapter 1. Feel free to write a short epilogue of your adventures in Ravengro, a travel montage, or any 'new city' type book keeping, shopping, or exploring that you'd like to make upon arrival in Lepidstadt. This thread takes place a day or two before the main Chapter 2 thread so you have some time to get settled, but in the interest of getting the action started you can post in both threads concurrently.

A quick apology for inadvertently misleading everyone; had a slight change to the character in finalising, so Vadim is actually human with the Giant Ancestry trait (and I forgot to change the portrait). That said...



So it wouldn't be unusual for him to be mistaken for a half-orc, and he's unlikely to correct anyone.

Likely events that unfold in this adventure will influence some choices along the way
For me that usually means I might swear an oath (oathbound paladin)

Or dip a level of oracle (to augment healing ability) or even inquisitor (to root out hidden corruption)
I have also been known to put a couple levels into ranger..
This message was last edited by the player at 15:22, Wed 06 Nov 2019.

May have went off the deep end on that post!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandamus

Hard to follow Paladin code without getting legal authority and authorization


For those who don’t know I am planning to take a single level in the justicar prestige class
Most likely with major input from our good DM; since we will have to be on the same page
This message was last edited by the player at 16:21, Thu 07 Nov 2019.

That sounds good, very thematic for the trial at hand.

I've made some Know: Local checks on your behalves and updated the Journal thread with the results, some general rumors about the trial and the information that you know about the key players. The prosecution, the defense, and the court.

Would any of us know how far is it to Morast/Hergstag/Dippelmere swamp?

I've updated the Journal thread with a map of the countryside surrounding Lepidstadt. Morast is 7 miles from Lepidstadt as the crow flies, perhaps 12 by road, which is about an hour by horse. The other sites are similarly in the neighborhood.

Did you mean for this to go in the OOC?

You're right, here's a brief recap of some salient points of your leftover quests from the first chapter.

Aside from getting sworn in as a deputy, Vadim doesn't have anything else he needs from the judge at this stage.  I'm happy to move on to the jail when everyone else is, unless we're going to discuss splitting up IC.

Nobody ever heard of anything bad happening to the guy who's just a few days from retirement, right?  So we should be in the clear...

In reply to Vadim Karamazov (msg # 295):

No not close to retirement anyway...

Still waiting on the reveal of the beast and all the information on it...
This message was last updated by the player at 21:22, Sun 10 Nov 2019.

As much as it would never occur to Vadim to ask, others of a more pragmatic mindset might ask about expenses being reimbursed by the court in the course of the investigation - or whether we'll need to get credit and pay everything out of our final fee.

I assume we are going out of pocket on expenses.

Eventually.....
I will be trying to get a craftsman to make me an adamantine holy symbol that opens up:
Guesstimates 130 gold
Inside I plan to hire a spellcaster to cast a heightened continual flame spell
Guess it will cost me 330 gold
Should not be countered but by darkness of 8th or 9th level

Nice, why not try for one where it casts a Daylight when you open it?

In reply to Darcon (msg # 299):

Because a third level spell (7th level heightened) with continual flame is permanent!!!

Daylight might be a nice option but costs will be higher
Permanent might really be nice on daylight
This message was last edited by the player at 20:04, Mon 11 Nov 2019.

An adamantine weapon is +3,000gp so we'll say a small item like a holy symbol would be half that, 1,500gp. You could accomplish the same thing with an iron or silver holy symbol for 10gp or 30gp respectively, the cost of the symbol plus 5 gold for the workmanship to make it collapsible or hinged to open and close. It wouldn't be indestructible, but it won't break the bank either.

Getting a 7th level spell cast is 910 gp (7th lvl spell x 13th lvl caster x 10gp). So you're looking at 2,410 gp if you go with the rad adamantine holy symbol and 940gp if you go with the silver. Both are well within the Lepidstat purchase limit and caster level limit, so it would be an easy enough item to commission, and there's a 75% chance something like that would be available to purchase right away.

---

You've got the expenses just about right. You're adventurers, you figure it out!

A carriage charters at 3cp/mile, so chartering a cab the 8 miles or so to Morast would cost the party ~3gp round trip. It would take maybe an hour to get there, so depending on how much time you spend in Lepidstadt you could be there before noon.

---

I've also added the Beast to the journal thread. I rolled Knowedge: Arcana checks on your behalf and flubbed it (sorry) so you don't know much beyond that he's big, he's scary, and he appears to be a construct or golem of some sort.

Remember that you can spend 8 hours at a library or other research location to re-try a failed knowledge check, usually with a bonus.

---

Edited:

Also, let me know which of you took the oath and a deputy's badge.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:07, Mon 11 Nov 2019.

Based on the oath of office I declined the oath and the badge
Perhaps my interpretation of law may differ; therefore I cannot swear to uphold it above/beyond the Paladin code of conduct

Vadim's all in for the deputy gig, obviously;  are there any details of the oath that we ought to know?

In the Beast's cell/area, Shade is seeing what falls out of all these orders being tossed around before speaking up to the Beast.  I'm using my hat of disguise to look a little different; worse comes to worse, Shade would rather the Beast didn't know her face or real name.

SCG with his interest in having a locket with a spell in it suspects the costs to make the beast is very high

Will be asking the research and magically aware party members (including shade) to approximate cost, time, location
Where such a creature might be completed ( top guess is where he was breaking into or out of)
Also if parts can be identified (people specifically) and if magic can divine useful intel from the construct

@GM: Just want to know, what exactly would be the difference between taking the oath & badge and not taking them? I mean, taking them seems to offer advantages but there don't appear to be any benefits to not taking them, as according to the Judge we are still expected to answer to the court when summoned as witness investigators.

Sorry for delaying replying to you regarding this but I just wanted to be sure whether there are any potential benefits to not taking the oath.

Hypothetically if SCG is convinced that the beast is innocent and the court rules otherwise he would be stuck to respect that outcome.

Free from the oath he would be able to appeal directly to the ruling council or king for relief

The deputy's oath is pretty straightforward, to obey and uphold the law, to answer to proper authority, that sort of thing. I'm not really a lawyer myself so I left exact wording out of the main thread, but for the duration of the investigation you're a deputy police officer.

It's more a roleplaying flair than a cost/benefit thing. Are you the sort of character that would take such an oath? Would you keep it or break it if the investigation called for something illegal? Would it hold you back or embolden you in your duties? Mechanically speaking the rights (acting under the judges authority) and duties (pursuing the investigation) of the deputies and the witnesses are basically the same, just more formal.

Speaking of which, you may hit some hitches when casting spells in social situations. Casting a spell on someone without their consent is at the very least extremely rude, if it's a spell that violates their privacy (like detect thoughts) it's illegal as well. Perhaps most relevant to the investigation, clues gleaned by such a spell are typically inadmissible as evidence unless cast by a court official (which you are, whether you're a deputy or not) and approved by court order. Basically you can't force a suspect to take a polygraph test without their consent, and you can't cast detect evil or zone of truth for the same reasons.

It's also tough to cast spells secretly, you have to speak in a strong voice, gesture arcanely, or whip out a material component. It takes a spellcraft check to identify a spell, but magic is a common enough phenomena that most people can tell that a spell is being cast. If you're going to cast spells in social situations you're going to want to invest in the big three: Still Spell, Silent Spell, and Eschew Materials.

But legally speaking reading thoughts of a construct should be permissible?
This message was last edited by the player at 00:10, Wed 13 Nov 2019.

My take is that the Beast is being charged and tried like a sentient, and is probably therefore under the same restrictions and protections as any other individual until someone digs up the legal statutes stating that constructs are property and cannot be regarded as entities in their own right.  At which point it would probably just be destroyed as a potential threat to the city since it didn't have rights (like a pet or livestock which had started to attack citizens or damage property) -- probably not something we want to happen, even if there is a precedent.

What Darcon is doing with his spell is a bit like using an x-ray machine in the holding area of a police station to see what's under people's clothes -- or that's how they're interpreting it.  Even though it's a perfectly logical thing to do to see if anyone's under any compulsions or has intent to disrupt the investigation, and he could possibly argue reason to suspect such a thing (especially given the manipulated behaviour of the townspeople in Ravengro).

I'm guessing that there's probably a lot of legal rigmarole involved in using spells within the courthouse, written permission from the judge, use to be supervised by a court-nominated official, only within a certain area where others can't be affected, only for a limited duration... say, the witness would have to sign something saying that they'd be happy to submit to such a spell, which would be administered only in a specific holding cell and watched by an impartial person to ensure that nobody was doing anything sneaky and using compulsion spells instead to force a false confession - as per the lie detector comparison given above.

If it could be established that the Beast is sentient but incapable of giving consent, then it might be possible to get a court order to allow the use of mind-reading spells or the like.  Unfortunately, it's just demonstrated before a bunch of witnesses that it is both self-aware and capable of speech.  Still, if Kaple can argue that it has child-like intelligence without capacity to understand what it's consenting to or not... maybe there's a case for some court-ordered mind-magic.

For what that's worth.

So Im confused about something other then the trial and beast. Whats going on with Petros Lorrimor's books? Did we turn them in? Did we not turn them in? I was under the impression that hadnt happened and then there was talk like it did.

Garland was fine with assisting the case as an investigator but he was clear that took priority for him

That is all going on in the arrival thread
Technically anything that happens before we were summoned to meet the judge
Kendra off to school
The books turned over; the 100 platinum collected
Shopping .... potions, wands

Perhaps a holy symbol that opens with a 4th level continual flame cast inside it.
No worries I will eventually get that awesome version!!!!
This message was last edited by the player at 13:50, Wed 13 Nov 2019.

There is a mention of completing that quest in the arrival thread, which I guess I missed. Sorry about that.



That's my mistake, but I feel like turning in the books would make for a good role-playing opportunity. Rather than retconning my mistake we'll run with it, we'll say that the books are currently in your possession. If you plan to stop by the university to investigate the break in that would be a great opportunity to hand them over.

Of course, that was a mistake on my part, so if you want to skip that we can. Let me know, but if I don't hear strong objections then we'll say you still have the chest of books.

Im fine with glossing over it or RPing it, I just want to make sure it gets done before we get involved in this trial

I can go either way as well
Glossing over will let us focus on moving forward with everyone

By the way is there a temple of Abadar here?

Okay, we'll say that you stopped by to drop off the books before the current investigation. Go ahead and add the quest reward to your inventory.

And yes, all major religions are represented, with Desna and Pharasma getting the most veneration. Like most large cities and settlements Abadar is an important diety as well, presiding over most of the banks in the city.

I was under the impression that we were all up in Kaple's office.  Did we step outside on the way for a 'smoke if you've got 'em' moment before retiring upstairs, maybe?

I read the "outside" part as just outside of the cell's area.

BTW guys, I love the way you're all playing, Shade is just... throwing shade at you guys in her thoughts, as she doesn't have much to go on in terms of knowing how you act, react, or your general truthworthiness yet.  :)

Thanks for clarifying.

Let me second what Shade just said, too, about enjoying the way everyone is playing -- Vadim will also likely take a little while to warm up.

It's great to be in this game;  reading through the first chapter was a treat (even if it left me with so many unanswered questions!).

Yar, I misread that bit so I edited my post for proper positioning.  :)

But, but....I’m a Paladin!!!

; )

Yes, the previous scene took place in the jail in the basement of the courthouse. Kaple has let you away up to his office. There aren't really any secret or off-limits areas that your badges won't get you into so you can explore the building at your leisure, I'll put up a map of the courthouse in the Journal thread.

I've updated the Journal thread with the information that you got from the file about the Morast Murders.

I've updated the Journal thread with the information in the crime scene report from the break in at Lepidstadt University.

It sounds like everyone is ready to move ahead so I've moved things along to Morast. If there's anything you would still like to do in Lepidstadt before you leave let me know. If it's minor we'll hand wave it, if it's an investigation or a roleplaying beat we'll break it off into its own thread.

I forgot to ask - can we collect whatever sketch the artist was able to complete?

I had forgotten about that. What did you ask him to draw?

I've added a brief entry for Elder Lazne in the Journal thread.

Just a sketch of the Beast to show witnesses.

We should possibly have some other pictures for comparison, such as a werewolf or an ogre or the like, but time didn't allow for that (and Vadim's not that experienced an investigator).

The sketch artist wasn't able to complete a drawing during your brief interview, but there is a drawing in the case file.

Perhaps more useful to you would be a visit to the Lepidstadt Gazette or the Lepidstadt Crier, both vying to present the most up-to date and accurate details of the trial to the public. Both have good woodcuts of the Beast, and either could produce prints for a couple of gold pieces to grease the right palm and 1cp per stack of 10 flyers after that.

You can assume that you have a good rendition of the Beast to show people.

*chants softly*  Innsmouth, Innsmouth. Dagon, ia ia Cthulhu ftaghn!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is where Grippli come from.

@GM - Thanks for that.  I'll put 10 copies on Vadim's sheet and delete a few coins.

@Shade - I love that song.

I believe I have finished my post
I did not add any aid another bonuses to the diplomacy roll.

I asked for three pieces of evidence
The house
The boat
The trap and walk through

Anything else we can ask to see/about?

I think that covers it, unless we would like to ask for a walk-through of the places each person disappeared (where known).  And maybe what needed repairing in Bertille's home.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:02, Sat 23 Nov 2019.

Heads up, I'm heading out for Thanksgiving on Tuesday. I'll put up a GM post sometime this weekend and one on Monday like normal, and if I wind up near a computer I may be able to put one up during the week, but otherwise we'll be on hiatus until the week after.

Have a great vacation!



I will be trying to lock our witness into a better description because in court he only has to point and say the beast.
Descriptions from the others who participated in the trap since they are not coming

Entirely possible the actual murderer is dead and eaten
This message was last edited by the player at 13:00, Sat 23 Nov 2019.

Hope you have a wonderful time, GM!

Thanks for the heads up and have a relaxing time off!

In reply to GM (msg # 316):

So maybe that means that an opening holy symbol and a continual flame heightened to 4th level might have been on the market?
Or the item and the spell casting might both have been available upon our arrival?

Thanks all! I had a great vacation, very relaxing. The 14 hr drive to northern Montana was a bit of a haul, but spending time with the family made up for it.

We're in for a bit of action coming up in the thread.

Constantine, yes. A hinged holy symbol with continual flame wouldn't be available at market, but with the crafters and casters available in a large city like Lepidstadt it would be very easy to commission something like that. If you detract the gold that we discussed previously you can assume that you had that made before your current excursion, and have it on you.

If I get swallowed by the blood caiman, I am cursing my way out with magic or harsh language, just FYI.  :D

I think the 940gp for the silver is the most doable the other one would be the most durable.
I think an etching on the back in memoria to the professor would also be a nice touch..
forever in the memory of your friendship will the flame warm my heart and light my path...
This message was lightly edited by the player at 15:31, Tue 03 Dec 2019.

Very apropos of an old friend.

Apropos of nothing, I've added a rule to the House Rules thread.



Not, you know, looking at anyone in particular here.

*squints at character sheet*  *looks at hit points*  *glares at blood caiman*

Does the blood caiman also have the 'grappled' condition as well, or is it taking the -20 on the check to munch on Shade without it (probably pretty doable, beast that it is)?

If it's 'grappled' and someone can pull a +1 from somewhere, that might be a hit for Vadim...


I look forward to the lay version of Blistering Invective coming from Shade.

You're right, the croc does have the grappled condition. Its AC should be 19, I'll make a small edit to my previous GM post.

I have a love hate relationship with combat feats.

Am I the only one who takes no combat related feats? And doesn’t plan to?

My feat progression is something like:
1st level Additional traits
3rd level Ferocious resolve
Walker among evil
Greater mercy
Ultimate mercy

I took levels in Brawler for the purpose of experimenting with combat feats, so I suppose I'm the opposite - at least for this game.

On a related note, GM, would it be okay to post the CMD of enemies as well as AC, for the purposes of knowing the success or failure of combat manoeuvres?

Sure, I'll start adding that to their stat lines. The blood caiman's CMD is 24.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:29, Wed 04 Dec 2019.

Thanks GM!

I got some lucky rolls there, so... everyone pile in and let's save that poor cat from drowning!
This message was last edited by the player at 12:21, Thu 05 Dec 2019.

Sent the GM a question, just need some information before I figure out how best not to die!  :D

Yikes I keep thinking I will have to do something to make archery work better for me.
Only thing I have come up with in dipping into ranger or slayer to get rapid shot

I suppose it depends on what you envision for your character.

I mean, if you wanted Sir Constantine to take a period of physical training, including hand-to-hand combat to harden up his hands and increase his speed, along with studying meditation, breathing, and focus techniques... Zen Archer Monk archetype?

First level gives Flurry of Bows and Wis to AC when you're unarmoured, the option of taking Precise Shot straight up as a bonus feat without prerequisites, and the ability to use Perfect Strike with a bow once a day (+1/day for every 4 levels outside of Monk), some nice saves, a few more class skills, and Monk unarmed strikes (useful for foot-stomping and head-butting people whilst holding your bow, notably).  But you lose BAB and Paladin progression, which may be a significant trade-off.

Alternatively, the Urban Barbarian might be appropriate, being a Paladin of Abadar.  You can add +4 to Dex whilst raging, giving you a +2 to ranged attacks, plus you get to run through crowds without impediment and a +1 to attack and AC if you're adjacent to 2 or more enemies.  Or you can choose to add the bonus to Str, Con, or split it between two.

I'd suggest a crossbow archetype for thematic Abadar reasons but they all seem to need more of an investment to start working well (from my brief glance at them).  You could just take a level of Inquisitor with any archetype that works for you, which doesn't give you much of any archery-specific mechanical advantage but gives you proficiency in repeating crossbows, which look impressive.

So if I put no feats into improving archery I will still get iterative attacks through increased BAB right?

Yes, you do.

In reply to Vadim Karamazov (msg # 354):

Or maybe roleplay / training time with Vadim and fit the barroom brawler feat into my build. ; )

DM
Is there time to wait here for the flat boats to come back before continuing on to the boneyard by boat?

Sure, if you'd like you can hang out by the caiman until the boats come back.

So that martial flexibility the barroom brawler feat is better than i thought:

Situationally do you need? Dodge? blind fighting? Exotic weapon proficiency? Catch off guard; dirty trick?; throw anything? Improved unarmed strike?
I am sure our brawler knows more about martial flexibility

Darcon thinks we might save time by heading out right away, but he will not venture alone. So if the rest of the party wants to wait he'll wait as well.

My main issue is having everyone fully healed before we continue on.

Shade How many hit points are you still needing to be full?

Vadim is keen to get going, particularly after what just happened, but he's not going to push the point. He can see the sense in waiting for boats, if only to be sure we've got them for the trip back. He'd also like to keep an eye on Shade, in case she has an emotional reaction to almost dying when the shock wears off.

Better not to split the party, of course, but I'm happy for Vadim to make a start out with Darcon and anyone else who wants to keep moving. Making sure the dead stay at rest takes priority...

(As for Martial Flexibility, partly the draw for me is having the option of using some of those interesting but not always useful combat options in a fight, like bull rush or disarm or style feats, without having to lock up a feat permanently.)

So using martial flexibility via barroom brawler also using the merciful smite;

That allows for demoralizing an opponent via Enforcer combat feat.

So many interesting options, and flexibility ...
And for a dedicated brawler with the right base feat; you have several options along that feat tree

You can definitely do that, and probably a few other options, so long as you're happy with 1/day for 1 minute (which is usually enough for a fight).

Otherwise that seems to be how the class is designed; a few bonus feats along the way if you want to start specialising, but once you have feats like Combat Expertise, Power Attack, and Dodge, there are a lot of options. Especially when you get to taking a couple of feats at a time.

I've never seen it played, though.