Every game has one.

Talk amongst yourselves.

Okay.

So I have recieved 12 RTJs so far.  I intend to pick the group (seven or so) by next Sunday, I make ask for clarifications in between that time and now, so keep checking back.

And of course, I'm open to more applications.  More detail is better than less, but keep in mind these are level 1 characters...they haven't done much yet.

Alrighty.  Final selections have been made.  Thank you to everyone who applied.

I'm still waiting on a few replies, but we should have either a fighter or a paladin incoming and possibly one more beyond that (so if the party looks a little "squishy" right now, that's why).

I was going to start the game next week...and then remembered Thanksgiving exists.

So, I'll just say I'd like to start in a week, but if takes us two weeks...I'll understand.

I still need to unlock character sheets, but that shouldn't take too long.

Anyway when your character is done please send me a new private message with the title "[Your character's Name] Designated Thread"  Also post your AC and Passive Perception on the lower line of your character bio (you can use the other line for whatever you wish).  I know most people put hit points there too...I find it too finicky so we're just going to ignore it.

This message was deleted by the player at 09:50, Mon 23 Nov 2020.

All's good. We start when we start. :)

Hey everyone!

Greetings. Looking forward to gaming with everyone.

Ila is here, too. Keyword tough. Happy gaming folks. Timeline seems realistic due to holidays and stuff.

Looking forward to playing with you all. I should be done closer to a week, depending on how long it takes to adjust to my new glasses (even with the holiday, we're not really allowed to do anything else here anymore).

If anyone knows a better firbolg picture, do let me know. I've discovered there are actually more choices for kenku than firbolg, lol.

Any other Hellrider Foundlings in the group? Not sure if it's automatically a given that our PCs would have known each other for a while, but it'd make sense if they did.

Ila isn’t a foundling but she has probably been with group a year or two since she got into town. I imagine more than a few barroom brawls in her wake.

Greetings all. Nic is ready whenever, hopefully.

He is also a Hellrider Foundling so he and Seth likely know each other.

I'm a foundling as well. Being trained as an Inn Keeper but decided to take my Final Vows and join the ranks. I should have a couple of tricks up my sleeves with more to come.

Yay! Foundling buddies!

I'm planning on taking Seth in an Oath of Conquest direction, so I'm setting him up to be a ruthlessly-doing-whatever-it-takes-to-get-the-mission-done tyrannical type.

If that leads to fun intra-party RP, then great.

If that leads to irritating intra-party conflict, then I'll change it up. :)
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 20:57, Tue 24 Nov 2020.

I love the oath of conquest. It’s by far my favourite one. For my self I’ll be going arcane trickster at 3rd level.

Sounds like an interesting bunch so far.

Nic will be going Gloomstalker when the time comes.

Ila is already dragonborn sorcerer. Fire element. I'm planning her to be tanky and rather direct. She believes only in the power of strength.

Haha, but she gets along with everyone. Strength is a personal path. She doesn't take kindly to rules or anyone telling her what to do but has a caring soul.

I will be playing your friendly neighborhood rage-monster, an urban barbarian.

And I'm everybody's favourite comrade, an aloof, sociopathic wood-elf ex-hermit cleric.

May you never need my healing. But don't worry, I won't make you beg. ;)

My slightly-irresponsible, good-time-loving druid will like that Arcane Trickster. I'm planning on him going circle of dreams, so at least we'll get some comfort in Hell. Outlander background- got kicked out of his clan for being drunk on watch when bandits came calling. He'll pretty much do anything for his new family... if he's not distracted again :)

Hey, sorry guys.  My job is ramping up for the holidays (like 10-12 hour days) and worse, thanksgiving seems to have given me light food poisoning. (As in, I didn't think it did...until I had some leftovers earlier today)

I'm going to try to get things rolling by next Sunday, but it's going to be rough until after Christmas.

That's to be expected. I think a lot of people are going to be pretty busy in the run-up to the end of the year. Normally plenty of disruption on RPoL through December :)

Feel better soon!

(Oh, and whenever you have a spare moment, could you set up user-editable character sheets so we - or at least, I, if I'm the only one affected - can put the character up for review? Thanks.)
This message was last edited by the player at 04:16, Mon 30 Nov 2020.

I spent 25 years in retail.  I totally understand.  And I have friends who work for UPS.
Hope you're feeling better soon, too.

It's the silly seasone mate. I'm in IT and it's the same on my side too - most of my clients are in logistics and they're all completely bonkers this year. :P

I look forward to it. I understand Dec disruption. Not much of a factor in my life over here, but I remember from when I lived stateside.

Okay, everyone should have editable sheets now.  Sorry for the delay.

Yay.

Okay, I'm still missing a few people's character sheets and designated threads, but we've put this off long enough!

First IC thread incoming.

howdy everyone! I'm going to be a wood elf monk, Beata. She's a bit of a mess, and definitely not the 'put the mission first' type, but I hope she'll be fun and any conflict she causes will be the fun kind!

Welcome Beata!



Oh, the shade! The shade! I love it! ^_^

Thanks, Seth!

And yeah haha Beata has her priorities in order. Getting free drinks is definitely number one!

So we've been getting a post a day from everyone.  Which is really good.  Pat yourselves on the back.

Now, I know I said this would be about a post a week, but I'm more than happy to keep up this pace as long as possible.

Just please, keep me informed here or by PM if you aren't able to keep that pace up for any reason.  I don't want the game to falter due to waiting on people.

That said, would anyone be interested in more role-play focused threads in addition to the main story thread?  I realize I'm driving train forward fairly quickly, and there really hasn't been time to develop the characters or their relationships to each other.

Also if anyone has an idea for a thread, feel free to ask me about it.

I'm highly active right now - but as of December 19th I'm travelling south to Christchurch to visit family, and during that period my updates will probably start to get a bit spotty. I get back Jan 12th.

I'm always keen on RP - and combat can include RP elements too - but I don't want to set up a huge expectation of my own involvement only to fall through the moment it gets going.

Also: 17:08, Today: Seth rolled 19 using 1d20-1.  Initiative.

Oh. Good. Glad I got the natural 20 out of the way. Time to start rolling terribly now. ^_^

I'm normally one once a day maybe a bit more depending. My work tends to be all over the place (example: Shift was supposed to be for noon and its now midnight with me going in in a couple of hours) So I mostly get on when I can.

I'm always down for more RP! Though with holidays coming up, maybe letting us settle into a routine with this first combat and then expanding into more threads/more focused RP threads after would be a good idea? That way we don't start something and then falter when everyone gets busy, and we can get into a lotta juicy stuff when everyone has more time?

Just a suggestion, of course!

I also wanted to ask, since I'm very new to RPol and don't know the etiquette, should I post once I have my initiative? Or wait until everyone has rolled and the highest number goes first?

I'm kinda new too. Seconding Beata's question. :)

I'll repost this somewhere more official for easy reference, but here's how I'm going to run combat this game.

All the monsters are going to act on the same initiative spot either "Before" or "After" the party depending on how well they roll (if they roll better than half of you, they go first, if half of you do better than them, you go first).

You will post your actions when you can. I'll put them in the correct order once everyone has gone (or Sunday arrives).  Feel free to coordinate either here or by PMs if there's something that needs coordinating (healing someone who's down for instance).  That should give us maximum efficiency with minimum effort on everyone's part.

Movement is going to be tricky as RPOL does NOT handle mapping well.  Best way I've found is to give everyone movement "bands" (engaged, near, distant, far etc.) that they can move between.  Theater of the mind is a little tricky, but I think we can manage it.

I'll keep a "scoreboard" of sorts under each of my posts.  It will be up to you to copy/paste it at the bottom of your posts (with changes based on what you do).  You'll see how that works once I post the first combat round.

If you've already posted your "turn," don't worry.  I'll incorporate that in too.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:57, Tue 08 Dec 2020.

Bit of a busy day here. I'll try to get a post up later tonight.

Sorry, just initiative was asked for. Did you need me to add an action to my post?

No.  Just initiative.  Those that already posted actions will have those actions incorporated.  But in the future, I would prefer you wait until I actually say "round 1, go" to post actions.

Noted. Sorry about that- habit from other games.

Same!

Ah, my bad! I was just kinda doing what everyone else did. Should’ve asked first!

Yeah.  Guilty, too.  Habit from other games.

It's quite alright.  I didn't explain anything, so assumptions were bound to be made.

Anyway, no harm, no foul.

I'll try to get the actual round 1 ready to go.  We're still waiting on Aien (or Sunday).  But he should be an easy inclusion.

Sorry about the delay there. Busy week.

I'll be mostly offline from the 18th of this month until around the 8th of January (maybe sooner). I'll try and check in (and post) at least once every four days if it's practical to do so though, so I won't go disappearing entirely and holding things up. I expect it'll probably be pretty slow around here in general over that time, but I guess we'll see...


Hmm, is that a fellow Kiwi I spy there, or are you talking about Christchurch in Dorset (or even somewhere else I'm not familiar with)?

Guilty as charged! Currently based in Auckland, counting down the days until I can uproot and head down to visit family for the Christmas break. :)

Where you at?

I'll get the reply up tomorrow...it's late right now in the States.

Agreed.

In reply to Seth (msg # 47):

Ha, always good to see another NZer on here. In fact I'm from Christchurch originally, but spend my time travelling all around the South Island these days, mostly based in Central Otago.

Sounds like you might almost be a fellow native of Christchurch, even! Interesting if so. :)

We're planning a move down sometime with the gf and the dogs in the next 2-3 years for family reasons. Brother and I want to get set up then drop a granny flat on a property somewhere so mum has somewhere to retire before she hits 70.

Just waiting for the equity in the Auckland house to get up high enough I can take it out and match my gf's savings for the next house deposit together. Then probably get stuck in on giving mum some grandkids. :P

Haha, sounds like a plan. Some busy days ahead then. I hope it all works out well for you guys down there anyway. I'm done with the city life in chch myself, but after Auckland it'll no doubt feel like nothing but a poky little village. :)

My brother's already down there with a big block about 40 minutes out of the city centre. Heaps of space and a close enough commute you can get to civilization when you really want it. I'm looking to get something similar, want to have space to set up a woodworking workshop as a hobby when it's my turn to retire.

But yeah, I think it lands different if you're coming from an Auckland context. Puts things into perspective when you remember Auckland's a poky little village on the world stage too.

Post up!

If I got anything wrong about your position or whatever, let me know.

To clarify, did the Faerie Fire work on any of them? If it didn't, Ekmas probably wouldn't still be concentrating on it- I think it's a work/don't work thing, instead of an enter or leave the area of effect thing.

Because you're last in initiative, any positive effects of Faerie Fire wouldn't happen until next round.  I didn't want to confuse anyone with the question of advantage or no so I didn't bring it up.

But yes, four out of five of the goblins in range fell victim to it.

Ah, okay. I just re-read the game thread and I get what's going on now. I thought it was the start of a new round instead of the properly organized first round. This is why I shouldn't read anything important after 10 pm :)

I'm having a bit of a hard time following the conceptual map. Does "Goblins x5" mean that the goblins are in the same area as the characters listed above them, or are they on our flank while the other four are directly ahead of us?

I'm assuming the former, but given the description of the room I suppose either is possible.

If it is indeed the former, then DM, could I please ask a favour? In future would it be possible to post such maps using fixed-width text, so as to keep the "zones" in line with the characters who are within them? Just makes it much easier for me to visualise, as the line spacings tend to go out depending on what device and parameters everyone's using.

I realise I'm the only one who seems to be having a issue with this, but the map layout looks different between my phone and my laptop. :)

Thanks!

EDIT: I've proceeded in accordance with the above assumption. Please let me know if I've made any mistakes!
This message was last edited by the player at 00:54, Fri 11 Dec 2020.

I just looked back at what I originally posted and WOW it looks bad.  Sorry everyone.

In the editor everything lined up perfectly -___-

The first line of text describes the range "bands" of the combat zone.  With the names underneath each title as characters IN that range band.  So the "Goblin Front" describes where the goblins are mounting their defense and the characters underneath it are in melee range with each other.  So right now, Jerris, Seth, Beata, and Aien are in direct combat with four goblins.  These four goblins are blocking the "Goblin Rear" zone where an additional four goblins wait.  If you wanted to hurt the goblins in the "Goblin Rear" you'd either need to run past the "Goblin Front" (provoking opportunity attacks) or use a ranged attack.

In theory we can use the initiative table to get down to specifics (e.g. Egaged with Goblin A).  And paying attention to that will probably keep the mental picture clearer than looking at my crappy maps.

Once we get into the adventure proper, I can probably link actual game maps which should help things a ton.  But this first little mini-dungeon isn't in the book so we're kind of bereft of options here.

Trap for young players ;)

No no, the map you've chosen is a good idea, I like it. Much less work for the DM, that's for sure, and gives us more than enough information to go on. I just needed to clarify how everything matched up since Beata kept moving around between zones across my devices. :)

There may (read: will) be combats in the future where a more detailed map may prove handy, especially if you have those maps already to hand! So that'll be good to see if you're willing to share them at the time.

But I like the idea of using the tracker to determine which enemy we're engaged with, too. If we can agree on a standard order of enemies (A to Z = top to bottom, for example), then that shows our individual relative position in the line with minimal extra effort, which is a level of detail that could end up being important if we need to rush to someone's aid, or for a cleric like myself, who might need to know roughly how far he has to go to heal people.

Round 2 is up.  Organizing eight players at once is tricksy.

Indeed. So I'll offer a helping hand and let you know that on the map there should only be seven goblins left - three in the front, Goblin E in the rear, and three falling back.

This is because I updated the tracker to show the goblin I had killed (leaving 8) but didn't include the one that Jerris just killed in the new round, since that action hadn't occurred yet because the goblins hadn't acted.

Updated. Thanks.

Ah I forgot to ask before I rolled so I’m gonna ask before I make a post; Beata would have advantage because of fairy fire, yeah? All three of the remaining frontline goblins are effected?

Yup.

Thanks, DM!

Didn't make much of a difference, tho. I am not rolling great haha.

Er, Jerris, I haven't actually acted yet, though that's incoming shortly (updating the tracker is a nuisance without my laptop in front of me, hence the delay in posting).

I'll note that you've acted in my own post though anyway, but please keep an eye on the lines! Cheers :)

EDIT: Also, Jerris, in fact you've already acted this round, after you posted your action for this round, last round. So that action will be your action for next round! Please refrain from jumping ahead if you could, as it's making it hard to follow what's happening round-by-round. Thanks! :)
This message was last edited by the player at 02:58, Mon 14 Dec 2020.

Round 3 is up.  @Jerris, Aien is correct.  You have already acted for this round.  Wait until round 4 goes live for your next action.

Unfortunately the Goblin AC is greater than 14.

I'm of two minds regarding enemy AC.  Just posting the number is the most convenient, true, but there is something to be said for not knowing.

A method I do like (and forgot to implement before now) is keeping track of what rolls hit or miss.  Which would give a range of acceptable and unacceptable rolls with an unknown range that would narrow as the fight goes on.  This would preserve verisimilitude, but be yet another thing I'd need to keep track of (which I'm leary to do).

It might be something that could be player-lead. But that might take some finicking.

just posted my turn! I assumed 6 damage wasn't enough to outright kill the goblin, so I put it down as injured instead. Let me know if I need to change anything!

At least my rolls slightly improved

Eh, the dice are swingy. That's the point. We'll all have a turn sooner or later of a run of crappy rolls. Seth'll give you shit in character, but OOC it's all fine. ^_^

Ha, trust me, I know the nature of dice. Plenty of disastrous things have been caused by some timely nat 1s in other campaigns. And this is level 1, after all. Being beat up by some goblins is par for the course.

And I don't mind the IC teasing; it's fun, and Beata will definitely be happy to engage :D

Someone does still have a light up, right? Or am I rolling at disadvantage going into room 2?

Well, there's the faerie fire behind you.  And further in there's a dim light (likely from a cooking fire or something).

<<Nicodemus reloads and shifts the target of his Hunters Mark to the goblin Ekmas had just struck and fired. With a mischievous grin he called out, "That's three Ekmas.">>


But Nico technically acts before Ekmas, so either Ekmas would actually get the kill, or Nico would kill one and Ekmas would strike the other :)



Or someone else may yet kill them before either one actually gets his shot off, lol.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:51, Tue 15 Dec 2020.

Ah jeez, Ekmas is even farther down the initiative than Nic. But it's so much more fun to steal Ekmas's kill.

Ooooh boy. Ekmas is in Room 2 without us knowing what's in it yet. My whole body just clenched.

Hope nothing bad jumps out at you buddy!

Seth is a callous bastard but I'll make him help you if you get into trouble! :P

Given how we're updating the tracker with every successive post, I'm not so sure whether the DM intends for us to be actually acting in Initiative order, or (as seems to be common in PbP games) simply the order in which we post during the "PCs' turn".

I think it's important that we establish which it is, for two reasons: first, it determines whether we should be copying the combat trackers from the player-post directly above (rather than from the DM's post or another earlier in the round, as some of us look to be doing), and secondly, it determines who scores a kill, which is important when there's a few rounds of drinks on the line!

I was pretty sure the DM asked us to act in initiative order, and to copy tracker from post above, but I can't find the comment now.

Don't worry about initiative order, just post when you can and I'll try and sort things out. (with the obvious caveat of ensuring you're not ahead of the current combat round)

If however you need to know what another character will do before you act.  You can definitely post here or hash it out by PMs.

Thanks DM.


Ah, you are indeed correct:

This message was deleted by the player at 03:42, Wed 16 Dec 2020.

just rolled my advantage attacks and then realized i forgot to drop the lowest die RIP

i'm just gonna reroll the attacks XP

Keep in mind that, if Ekmas loses concentration, they may not be advantage by the time your step in the turn order comes around.

13:51, Today: Ekmas rolled 7 using 1d20.  Dex save.

13:54, Today: Ekmas rolled 12 using 1d20+4.  Con save for concentration.


Welp, failed the Dex save, so what hit me and how hard, DM?

At least Faerie Fire has a chance of staying up, unless that trap packs one hell of a punch.


Also, Ekmas is *livid* in my head right now. He really wants to tear Kirkward a new one for not warning them.

His player is delighted to take one for the team :) Also, if no one else does, Ekmas could probably help Aien- but someone would have to tell him about it. I think he was kind of too busy to see the cleric fall.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:04, Wed 16 Dec 2020.

Ah, i did forget about the concentration check! Dang. I'll edit/delete and repost if need be, of course.

Also Beata can help Aien out next round if needed! For the moment I was trying to get A out of the picture and make sure C didn't keep hitting Aien.

I'm waiting to see what happens with Ekmas' DEX save before I decide who to help first. :P

Well Ekmas is going to have a gnarly new scar, but he's not "out" yet.

How was Ekmas already on 2/12 hp? Or is that just a typo that got worked in somewhere?

Just trying to work out whether he's down too, or just badly hurt.

my fault.

accidentally took hit points away from him rather than you for the goblin crit.

I have since fixed the error, but a few people have gone (and copied my erroneous chart) since then.

Ironically, it turned out prophetic.

Uh-huh. I see how it is... *eyes DM suspiciously*

Thank god my highest score is in Con. I had the strange feeling I'd need it, lol.

Faerie Fire is still up and so is Ekmas. I can't wait for level 2, though, when I have wild shapes to retreat to.

At this point, I think I'll wait a bit and see if Nic or Nod manage to steal Ekmas' kill on this turn after all before I decide what he's doing. Because that would just put the cherry on the s*** sundae for my poor baby :) *pets Ekmas soothingly*
This message was last edited by the player at 03:14, Thu 17 Dec 2020.

#sorrynotsorry
This message was last edited by the player at 03:21, Thu 17 Dec 2020.

Just letting everyone know that I'm off into the wild places today and will be largely offline over the next three weeks.

I will be trying to check in on RPoL (and hopefully, to post also) once every 3-4 days though.

Things should be back to normal for me from around the 10th of January. Have a good break, everyone (those that actually get to have a break, that is!) and try your best to enjoy yourselves in this time of restricted travel and other such bedlam.

Cheers!

Have fun! I'll try to make sure you don't die. Seth'll nose-boop Aien awake if they fail their second death save. :)

I read that as "And try to make sure you don't die," and thought, "Jeez, mate, it's only central Otago" xD

Cheers. And yeah, keeping Aien alive would be appreciated, if it can be managed.

Have a good one down in chch!

Ah, it is that time of year where everyone gets busy! Have fun!

So it seems I can still access the mobile data network out here, though I have never been able to before in this particular spot. Evidently a combination of a new phone and recent local upgrades to the network. So apparently I won't be going anywhere at all, RPoL-wise.

Which is good, because obviously I need to stick around and oversee my charater's untimely death... :/

Well, if you're really interested in keeping Aien alive...The Dark Powers Are Always Willing To Help.

Er, here's hoping it doesn't come to that.

And while the idea of playing a soul in limbo, stuck in a half-dead, infernal-tainted body sounds like fun, I think the character I've created for Aien would decide that death is preferable. I wonder why?

Oh, that's right: Faust. On the other hand, we're off to Hell anyway, so what have I got to lose?

Think we're just waiting on an action from Jerris now, aren't we? Since we're in round 4 now and he hasn't posted for this round yet.

However it is Sunday, and so I post regardless

Ghosted his action (a swing and a miss), and because Ekmas is charging forward, a description of room 2.

As a note: there are still things to see in room 1 EDIT: and I'm an idiot.  Thrask should have discerned the potential light source in room 1 with his Perception check.  My bad.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:29, Mon 21 Dec 2020.

Sorry.  Did not realize it was round 4 already.  First I'm ahead, then I'm behind.  My readheaded, ADHD son had surgery Friday, so keeping him from bouncing around and pulling stitches has been my priority.

Are we still keeping the scoreboard, or are we out of initiative for now?

And how do we feel about profanity? I can remove the f-bombs if it bothers anybody, that's just where Ekmas went first :)

I haven't posted because I keep meaning to address this point of the rules with the DM, since different DMs have different policies on this.

Can you administer a healing potion to an unconscious character? Or do I simply choke and/or drown? :)

you're fine.  that's too much verisimilitude for my tastes.

Beata could jab it in your chest like an epi-pen, and would still heal you

In that case I insist that she does so ;)

Thanks for the quick reply. I'll post IC later today.

In the meantime, a safe and happy holiday season to all.

Ha, feel free to imagine Beata smashing it on Aien's chest!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, etc!

I'm going to combine these two things and envision the potion being rubbed into Aien's flesh as seasoning like oil being massaged into a turkey.

Since "'tis the season", you're all welcome to a slice of roasted elf, once the goblins have cooked me...

Hope everyone had a good holiday. Was a bit interesting here. No power from Christmas Eve to about three o’clock Christmas Day that and like eight inches of snow.

clearly the best way to administer a healing potion, right?

a lovely christmas dinner

No post today due to the holiday slow-down.  We'll see how things look next week.

Well, Ila took a look around the entrance room. Any results?

Sorry, didn't see it until you mentioned it.

Description of the mosaic (and the hint for the axe trap) are now up for further clarification.

Hey guys. Sorry it's been so long since I chimed in. Holidays and family stuff have been busier than expected, but in a good way.

Largely recovered from my end-of-year burnout and back to a more normal schedule, so I should be around to post more often here on in.

For some context in the other thread: Seth is moderate intelligence, high charsima, but his only social proficiency is intimidation. He's also of the opinion that the goblins are vermin that need to be exterminated. Seth isn't evil in the sense that he's not about to indiscriminately slaughter goblin women and children that are trying to talk to us first. But he's going to go into that social encounter itching for an excuse to get his Anakin on and slaughter some Goblin younglings.

If the party's cool with all that, I'm happy to step up as party speaker.

If the party would prefer someone with something vaguely resembling a diplomatic mindset, jump in and take the role, I won't mind. :)
This message was last edited by the player at 02:00, Wed 30 Dec 2020.

The pause in posting is nbd to me! I believe you did mention you'd be away for a bit, too, unless I'm misremembering.

As for the RP sitch, Beata is definitely not the most charismatic, nor does she particularly care about how the convo goes so long as we can get on with the quest! So she has no objections, though she probably won't join in on the youngling slaughter haha

Well, Ila has a solid Cha, Sorcerer yeah? and I am tired of talking about it. Pushing forward!

In reply to Seth (msg # 115):

Yeah, Aien is likely to stand idly by and let the pieces fall as they may. Despite his new-found "good" outlook and a dislike for the wanton slaughter of non-combatants, the Hellriders still have a job to do, and fewer goblins to breed in the wildlands only helps that job. So I don't see him offering an opinion either way :)

All's good..

I wanted party consent before diving things into a potentilly dark direction, but happy to let Ila take the reins instead.

And again: Seth being a jerk is just IC for funzies. If you want me to rein it in, let me know. I'm the boss of Seth, not the other way around, so he'll do whatever I tell him to do. :)

Morning all. Just wanted to let everyone know I may lag a little posting. Started feeling pretty crappy Wednesday. Tested  positive for COVID.

I'm really sorry to hear that! I hope it doesn't hit you too hard!

Sorry to read that.  Hope you overcome it, quickly and with little, or, better yet, no lasting damage

In reply to Nicodemus Thrask (msg # 120):

Hey mate, so sorry to hear that. Rest up, isolate as much as you can, and drink lots of fluids. Hope you come out okay in the end.

In reply to Nicodemus Thrask (msg # 120):

Damn, sorry to hear it. Not the greatest way to start the new year. Take care and I hope you feel better soon. All best wishes.

Great comments on the negotiations from everyone, but I am waiting for the GM's response be fore I do anything.

Sorry folks, Sunday (and now Monday) got away from me.

I fully intend to have a post up Tuesday, but it's another busy day.

It's holidays, I get it. Family stuff has been busy on my side too. Think I got interrupted three times by humans and four times by dogs trying to bust out my last post. :P

In reply to Seth (msg # 127):

Ah yes, as a wood elf, I can attest to the nuisance of humans... :)

Could we speak up to Kirkwood or escort the matron out without voiding the trial?

I was considering being coy with this question, but I think we've wasted enough time on this subplot.

You only forfeit if you leave the cave.  Standing right inside the entrance should keep everything nice and technically legal (the best kind of legal).

ah, DM, did i find anything with my investigation roll? (it was low and these goblins don't look like they have much so i'm assuming not, but i figured i'd ask!)

Sorry all.  Busy busy with resumes. Will get something up tonight to try to rush things along.

Not really, unless you like shortbow arrows and crappy scimitars.

We're going to pretend Ila has lead the matriarch up to the surface and move forward with the main quest.  I was serious about the Sunday thing.

I figured there'd be nothing on the goblin front.

And of course! Rules are rules, after all.

Sorry that took so long! Things got away from me. No excuse, just dropped the ball. Hope we can get it done super fast.

-fingers crossed that replacing the tile doesn't trigger another trap-

Uh, boss? Ila didn't pick up the piece of wall. She is trying to resolve the goblin issue.

Post edited.  Now includes Kirkward's reaction to the matriarch.

I have proceeded under the assumption that there are no doors or exits from this second room. I looked for any reference to them in the DM's earlier posts but couldn't see anything. Perhaps I've missed something obvious, so please let me know if so.

Sorry, it's a very straight-forward dungeon.  The door to the next room is directly across from you.

Aha! I think I've found the way onward! I propose that we walk through this swinging wooden section of the wall - zany, I know, but hear me out - and into the cavity that lies beyond it.

Chalk up another win for elven engineering ingenuity!

Edited my post and added a Perception roll, which was just as feeble as my Investigation. Huzzah.

In reply to Aien Lurieth (msg # 142):

i was intending on using a help action on whoever did investigation (i noted in the OOC part of my post), so if the DM permits you could probs get advantage on that roll at least!

Sounds like a plan to me! I keep forgetting that it's an extra advantage roll rather than a straight plus to original roll in this edition.

Seems pretty clear cut, but I'll wait for the DM's say-so before making a second roll.

Fine by me.

Probably won't get the "results" post until Sunday though.

So quick question, because I'm a bit confused amidst all the goblin drama. We still only have the two chambers in here, right? And are there any visible exits from the second chamber?

Probably, but we haven't checked yet.

The closest we've come to exploring the second chamber is Seth glowering at the goblins as lookout just in case there's any shenannigans the GM wants me to roll perception to see. :P

Seth'll calm down once the rest of the party is finished up behind him and we move forward. He just doesn't want to risk everyone putting their backs to the goblin civilians at the same time because his sense of pride gives him a massive stick up the ass about that sort of thing. :P

Um...

So, who all is still here?  It's been a very slow week of posting, and I'm not sure how much of that is my fault and how is typical RPOL attrition.

i'm still here! just was waiting on the post about the details we found in the investigation, and then i was gonna post based on that!

Yes, I had a couple of queries, the first being, as Beata has mentioned, whether my improved Perception roll of 20 (which I added in to my previous post) turned up anything.

The second is the nature of the door. How is the lock attached to the door? Is it actually in the knight's hands, or hanging from them? And in what way does the "door" appear to open, if the lock is in the centre? Any evidence of hinges etc?

There's not too much else in this room other than the memorial stones, and shallow trench full of kindling that would improve the lighting conditions from dim to bright were it set alight.  The piece of the mosaic that comes off was the most interesting thing in here.

The door and lock are of the magical "gates of Moria" anti-thief variety.  You can't see hinges, and other than the frame, it's hard to tell there's a door at all.  You speak the riddle's answer, the door opens.  Said lock is the main reason the goblins haven't ventured further in.

Here's a hint for the riddle: I gave you my ____?

Oh, it's that sort of riddle. Ha! I thought we had to manipulate the lock somehow.

Right, I'll have a think about that.

Still here. Things have improved and I will attempt to catch up shortly.

Still here as well. Just pondering the riddle.

We seem to have lost our poxy rogue. How wonderful, given the traps in this place :/

sorry i meant to post a few days ago and then got hit with two long shifts at work!

I intended the in-game post to be up by yesterday, but...well, RL gets in the way.

Gonna be a little less on top of things for the foreseeable future, but I will try to keep the Sunday (or thereabouts) posts from dying.

I am highly amused by -and a bit proud of- the druid and the nature cleric being the ones to question a blanket oath :)

haha, yeah it's fun to see!

Beata isn't exactly sold either but she doesn't care enough to really question it.

I forgot to ask earlier, but I don't suppose the round-trip while Ila was escorting the Matriarch to Kirkward would have counted as a short rest for everyone else?

Afraid not.  It was a 2 minute walk at most.

These are trials after all.

Didn't think so, but had to try :)

Sorry about missing this Sunday...new offspring in the house will do that to you.

I intend to have the first combat round up some time this week.

No worries, and congrats on the new offspring!

Aw.  From a parent of three (including a twenty year old), congrats on the permanent lack of sleep.... LOL

Well initial post is up.  Have at it.

Yay! Oh, wait, fire type things... shit... Haha. Good to see things will keep going.

I'll post Ekmas Saturday night if no one else goes. Since he's last, I was hoping to see who damaged what first. He will totally go after a weaker one to finish it off :)

If I'm doing my math right the one Beata and Seth are beating up has 1 HP left.

Tactically it makes sense to finish it off, but it terms of character motivation I thikn Beata and Seth would both be grumpy about the kill steal.

Follow your character's heart. :P

Right, action paralysis. Ila's attack spells are all fire based right now. She's rather certain they won't do anything. Haha. I'll get something up.

Lol, Seth. Makes sense they'd be grumpy. I think Ekmas just figures kill-stealing is fair game in the universal karmic sense after having *his* kills stolen in the last fight- if not by Beata and Seth specifically.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:42, Fri 19 Feb 2021.

Head's up: Work's crazy busy this week. Hasn't been my turn to post for a bit, but it could be a while before things level out.

Hello?

Yeah.. been two weeks.

Yeah, Sorry all.

The newborn isn't sleeping through the night yet, and until he does I'm not going to have enough brainpower to do much DM-ing.  Which unfortunately means you all suffer.

I'm not going to delete this game, and try to revive it once I'm able to run it confidently.  If you're still around we can continue where we were.  If not, I'll either start it fresh with new folks or start from the next "section" of the story with whoever is left over + the new folk.

Until that happy day, good luck with all your other games.

Hey, I get it.  I helped my single mom raise my two younger siblings, had a stepson in my first marriage, a son by a girlfriend, and a stepdaughter and second son by my current wife.  There were many nights when "baby mama" didn't have to get up, because I did it; I've never really slept much anyway.

Yeah a baby changes everything!
I'll be keeping an eye here, for sure, but parenthood comes first.

Same. Cheers and good luck!

I'll be around whenever you've got the time again :)

Yep, just give a shout out when your ready I’ll be around.

Definitely.  I like this character, so I really want to play him.

*crawls out of baby induced waking coma

Okay...I think the kid is settled enough that we can try this again.

Who's still here?

I am.

Still around.

Aye.

me too!

And me! Though maybe not for long if Ekmas keep rolling like he is :)

I am alive

Okay, I'll wait for Sunday to be sure, but as it stands 6 out of 8 PCs isn't bad at all.

Next question.  Do we want to continue where we left off, or skip forward a little bit to account for PC attrition?

I can go either way.

I don't mind either way; whichever makes it easier to get going again!

Okay, post up.

I decided its probably easier to just try to keep going forward from here.  I'll just ghost the missing players until we can remove them diagetically.

Please feel free to correct anything I missed...This combat is complicated.

You know it's bad when the best thing you can say about your post is: "At least I passed my Death Save..."

I know that feeling....  First combat in another game, I ended up almost dying twice.

It took me two days, but I finally realized that Ekmas now gets an action this turn after all. Thanks Beata! Going last sometimes pays off :)

Ha, no problem! And that is always a plus to being last- going down doesn't mean staying down.

Do Ilakhal, Nicodemus or Jerris have anything that can get Aien up? Because if not, I will edit my post to have Ekmas cast Healing Word instead of Infestation. He wouldn't leave Aien down if he doesn't see anyone else take care of it first.

Jerris is a Barbarian.  No spells or anything even remotely like it.

Sorcerer, draconic blood, so no healing.

Nic has nothing to help.

And... way to roll minimally, Ekmas. At least it's a bonus action so I can still attack too.

Thanks for that. Think I'll need to stay well clear of combat for a while, so I can hopefully help someone else out with my one remaining healing spell...