I'm trying to tailor the game to your interests, so please let me know if you can still play or if I should remove you. I hope everyone can still play. Here's what I tried to do:

The goal is to attain the Cuirass of Hope, adjudicating whether it is the ultimate weapon for battling the fire elementals. If you're able to slay the fire elementals and bring their black fire (it takes some rules elements to change their colour, something of a Craft skill but infused with song, given the sonorous odes to Apollo resound even now in the halls of the place of the dead, the temple). The fire elementals are servants of Apollo and their death forces them into a form which makes their black fire able to bend like wildfire.

The city is such that the Parthenon and the black fire upon its altar are able to end the riots by heeding the goals of the thieves commanded by Jil, whose goals, dousing the fire in the central lake, will ease the riots Rodney King style. Already you're surrounded by smashed windows and loud screams, but the gods will speak words to settle the furor, even using charm spells on small animals to allow Artemis to witness the combat directly, contacting other cities by beacon if the riots don't settle down fast enough. The spires rise into the distance, overtaking communal views, with turrets on some of the buildings fielding a windowed glance at a cupola that was Turkish in origin but supposedly also where there is housed a history of "black fire." And it's connected to the library with the Gilded Halls, where preludes toward interpersonal love are printed at the local printer, for the tech level is such that fliers are churned out, many of which litter the streets even now.

The sloping streets offer tides in heavy rains of Dionysian dolphin song, which is supposedly on several graffiti selections throughout the city, obviously painted with brushes rather than aerosol. The city sits in a nest of smoug, with Golgotha's acid rain (1d4 + 2 in 3 bursts, WILL save halves) hurting the dolphins but also allowing for the paint to become magical glyphs that those who imbibe hallucinatory drugs comme Delphi maintain. The black fire is supposedly able to enrich those glyphs to create real items, kind of a STR 5 check to break them and get the constituent magical energy, essentially if you take the materials to Skie's Treasury, you are able to get items that sing the song of the gods in a noble manner.

The magical tunnels are able to be collapsed, which is what some of the gods want to do, to keep the riots in the city as low key as is possible. But your mission is to deliver the fire to the pictures, sing it to the dolphins, and maybe see about the clean-up of the city before bringing the fire to Skie's Treasury to have new weapons for slaying the creatures in the countryside (it'll take one hour of horse travel to get there, and there are plenty of horses in the mix) and Skie knows secrets about how to get the items even more powerful at cities patroled by the shadow, which is soon to be Baden's Bluff if you don't act quickly. In other words, the items, like the Cuirass of Hope, are able to do slashing damage to vulnerable astirax to re-arrange Artemis's board, for she scries as an interlocutor without being explicitly on one side or the other, Greek or Dark. You might be attracting the attention of Izrador if you travel, so be aware.

My feeling is as follows

Let's try this. To try it

• Don't post our actions. Not at all. It's up to us to post our actions
• Only do a little thing at once and let us react. Sure it takes longer, but we understand what happens and can do things

It's really nice to have a goal. Getting the Cuirass of Hope is a good target.

Questions:
I didn't understand the bit about a craft skill with song. Is that a skill we need to have (I don't). Or are we to find someone with the skill. And which craft skill is it
I didn't understand the bit about the tunnels. Is that just something that exists, or do you want us to collapse the tunnels?

Let's break down this section

• Deliver fire to the pictures. What pictures? How do we move the fire?
• Sing it to the Dolphines. Which dolphins? Where are they? How do we know what song to sing? What skill is it (Craft or Perform) I don't have either
• Bring the fire to Skie's Treasure. What fire? And where is Skie's treasury. I take it Skie is a person
• Secrets to make the weapons more powerful. Cities patroled by the shadow... Which cities? What kind of shadow is doing the patrolling? What has this to do with Baden's Bluff?

And I get that the Cuirass of Hope can do damage to something, although I don't know what a Astirax is
---

As you can see I am very confused. Let's work out how we can get rid of this confusion.

---
Now imagine this was a book. A novel. We are a group of heros. We have to be recruited. This is usually done by a person. That person usually has knowledge and we can talk to him/her. We can roleplay that talk. We can ask questions. They can answer. Perhaps we don't understand so we can ask more questions. Things become clear. Sure it takes a while, but actually it's fun.

Why don't we start with that person. Decide who it is. Have them meet Aranea and I, and we can chat. At the end of the chat we'll have a much clearer idea of what is going on, what we have to do. Just remember to give us time to ask questions. There's no hurry!

Astirax is a setting creature. Kind of like a Shadow creature save that they sense magic. They also consume magic from spellcasters. They are servants of the Dark Lord and may attend his clerics or other devotees. That is about all I know

Scary stuff!

The black fire:

Size: small; pocketing this item and withdrawing it is a free action.
Shape: curvature suggesting that if placed next to other items, fire would spread in ten rounds, which is what the flames in the squares will spread like as well.
Cost: If exchanged at Skie's Treasury, which is located in the second row from the center in the northwest quartier of the city, you can earn 5000 gp in in-store rewards, as there is a wall teeming with goods in haphazard fashion which include the exploits of all the older adventurers.
Nature: non-magical but supernatural

This item, if used against creatures immune to fire, will grant you spell immunity to falls, as the wind is chimney-like in the city, with drafts causing the assertion of monk-like fire rituals such as snuffing out candles with one's bare fingers and walking on coals, both seen in the city as colliseum-like endeavors that all the mudbloods use in their pursuit of bodily perfection.

There is a wind rotating around the bottle that you can use to contain the flame, but there is the ability to shatter it up to 50 feet if thrown as a projectile, with STR x 5 being the extra range that you can douse the horizon with.

You read on the street about Skie's Treasury and a couple of people at the various injunctions of the city are muttering it as well, prophetically. The renunciation of deeply=held beliefs mark a turn in the milieu that suggests that the riots are religiously-based in origin, tipping the scales in the city toward the accumulation of wealth, as far as RPG factors go. If you deliver the fire to the Treasury, you will receive a certain token with a beholder on it that permits you to be in a certain monetary network, and in fact the words on the coin suggest something about black fire. It's what everyone seems to be muttering about except something about a shackleborn. The minions of the dark lord aren't too far away, so you might want to deliver the fire before long or else ten minions with dogs descend upon the city, something that would be a rather challenging encounter.

The stairs to the temple seem to rise into the distance, with greeneryn all around and there is an interest in decreasing the city's temperature so that in case a volcano erupts, there is air elemental (which Skie is rumoured to know about), which allows for the creation of more glassware using the mine that exists, in the church's cathedral of St. Cuthbert in the northeast (I assume you have a map that you can consult, alongside the black fire in a bottle (it's like bottled lightning). Delivering the fire will end the riots, and there is a needs for glass in their aftermath that makes your voyage here, which was to research and potentially join, the shadow, based on certain prophecies about "shackleborn" and the church will surely have more information for you once you arrive there and secure the next sequence plot-wise. The fire elementals seem to respond to Jil, whose harlequin paint on her face marks her as a trooper who is comfortable with her place in the city, having roll terrain on a scroll written on that you find in the street, she having dropped it. The impetus to battle will fall on you if you do not get the fire into the church. The other part of the prophecy is about magically pushing some kind of riots toward the exterior of the region in order to create a sort of ghost landfill. There's also some general knowledge in the mix about dolphins and ghost word.

So if I'm reading this right, what it means is if we defeat these fire elementals that are in small groups around this Temple then we will get some of a special resource [black fire] that we can either use as specialized wondrous magical items, or we can turn it into the city Treasury or sky Treasury for different rewards and that's nice.

Then we hit some areas about prophecies and we start talking about some other NPCs that I have a hard time keeping up with again.

Being magical creatures it kind of behooves us to not side with the dark lord as their minions consume magic. We may not be big fans of the Greek gods but it seems like the dark lord is going to be the most natural enemy for us as much as the Greek pantheon may be placing side bets on the whole issue they shouldn't want to destroy us outright but they may have their own ideas for how to best deal with the shadow which could play into some complex undertones for our adventures.

THOUGHTS ON PROBABLE BACKSTORY
 I think that it's perfectly reasonable for us to have met in a forest near baden's bluff and are trying to take care of the dark ones local foothold. My characters species may have left a clutch of eggs hidden in a deep and wild place which would just happen to be where the fairies have a ring nearby and so using a somewhat older and forgotten circle for whatever her own reasons might be to leave the fae realm for a little while, we may have been together from soon after maevre's entrance into the mortal realm.

An Astirax, might have been drawn to the fae magic activation and come to investigate. Knowing they are a thing I have magic natural attacks 50% of 9 attacks 1 of which reduces speed to 0 is tough for a lone shadow to beat. Especially as incorporeal creatures have no strength to break a magic web with. We may have come in after hearing the Greek Pantheon was mounting open resistance to the darkness that had tried to eat us.

Of course, I'm negotiable... I just wanted to put thoughts out there.

@Areanea
I like your thinking on this Araenea.

The only tiny problem is 'how do we kill fire elementals'. I have powerful attacks based on fire to which they are immune (sucks to be a fire user in this encounter) I can melee with them but I don't have fire immunity and we don't know how powerful they are, and if it goes wrong we are dead...

Perhaps we should try something.

I've re-read the GM's last post (a few times) and I can't work out what is happening or what we have to do. Any thoughts on what our next step should be?

I think these are non-standard fire elementals. Do you by chance have any gift or equipment for healing?

I have a few potions and the skill.

A little. About one combat round in three if I hit something I can do a small heal...

That's almost saying 'not really'!

I do have a decent amount of fire resistance (10 points) if I do stuff. Probably that will help.

Ah well... I guess we start... I'll post something tomorrow (it's late here) about attacking fire elementals. Let's start with just one...

Well I am even more rubbish against these than I thought... Still I've made a combat post. Let's see what happens

Sorry for not posting a bit, I would assume you guys need more than 2 to continue? Lady Maevre had mentioned 3 as her minimum at one point. I bumped the prompt but to no avail. We can continue with just 2 if you would like.

I can post tomorrow if so.

It's all good. Let's try this

I have posted in the IC.

Let's do the combat posts very slowly. One round at a time to get used to it. Small amounts of information. Otherwise we are going to get very confused!

I'm for continuing.

Are you continuing to play, Eleni? I had forgotten that you might've been given I didn't parse what you had posted (i.e. I didn't see a post after I had posted, but no big deal, just checking in).

Hopefully we can get the crunchy aspects going pretty soon, is there anything else I need to know before continuing? Waiting for Eleni, and I'm pretty tired again tonight so hopefully we have 3 moving forward and I can post tomorrow.

Still no sign of Eleni, how's my new posting style? Better? Worse?

I feel that it is a lot easier to follow. I need to read it over a few times because there is a lot there to unpack still...

There is still a lot as Aranea says. But it's managable.

By the way just for your planning of encounters... I did terrible damage because they are fire elements, immune to sneak attack, immune to fire damage, and to survive them I traded off attack for damage. And I was unlucky when I rolled the die!

I do do better damage vs most things.

---
Still confusing things:
I don't know what an Auron is. Is it a langauge? If so I don't think either of us speak it. Mind you I haven't picked languages yet... And as the daughter of the Queen of Air and Darkness I should probably select it!

Do we know what the Crown of Eurydice is (looking at Aranea here)




--

Oh... and it was nice having the gods bickering in the background in previous posts. You started with that and it was confusing because we didn't know what was going on. Now we do... just letting you know it was cool

-maybe I'm not rememAuron is a neutral classification of creature but above(outside) the normal classification... So a truly neutral or predominantly neutral (if I remember right they could still be lawful or chaotic). The way celestials are good and fiends are evil.

I would roll fey ancients in the same kind of category.

Yes, the crown is part of a set of gear Aranea is seeking to help strengthen freedom and fight tyranny.

So... I re-read it. And re-read it.

And have no idea what to do... None.

• Should I speak in Auron...
• but how do I do that?
• Is it a skill?
• Is it something I can do?
• Or something I should learn how to do?
• And if I need to learn how to do it, where do I learn to do it?

Or

• Should I speak in Draconic
• But I don't know how to speak in draconic...

Or

Do we ignore this and

• go after another fire elemental?
• But something strange is happening to the fire elementals, and they aren't fire elementals any more

What do we do Aranea? GM?

The elementals are about 20' away from you, now shifting in a given pattern as though dipping into other elementals elsewhere, they sharing the roulette that gives them birth, and some of them can even whip up water if it is nearby or if they favor water to earth they can tear up the earth like digging dogs to secure clay deep within the earth's crust. The elementals, as Aranea was explaining, are part of the myth of the elder beasts, celestials, archons, and angels of various caliber. They synthesize or differentiate based on their position in the firmament, and some even speculate that fire elementals come from the stars, and are thus the source of the names of the gods. Astrolabes and sextants usually pay homage to lenten dieties such as Demeter and there is a navigational elemnt of ascorbics that belies any connection with the god Poseidon. The waves that quietly rumble on the coast of ancient Greece yield bronze statuettes that the city of Baden's Bluff is known for, and there is an ethereal overlay combining fantasy with reality but the acropolis is often visually highly saturated, the water around it often too calmly blue.

Metals mined in the hills produce vibes in the city well exceeding any expectations that the gods will relieve their duties as workmen and laborers and instead people set up shrines to deities that are like herms but fish-shaped, suggesting a cone-like cephalos with the ability to breathe freely even upon the ethereal plane, but some believe that certain viewers of the slideshow that is Hades produce a crucifixion type effect, a prolonged cry that eases souls into accepting their fates. The elementals are red and blue but seemingly personify the tastes of the pantheon, literally incarnated in the spot of the doric and corinthian architecture making up the retinue tagging along for a cosmic ride. The weathering of the stone suggests you could find a solid mass of rock that will combine with the rock and glass in the countryside to be the raw materials of a fine production of magical items. Your goal is to find out what dolphins, glass, black fire, elementals, and thieves to figure out which temple to which gods (gotta buy the map at Skie's Treasury, according to the prophecies you read this is the place the demons raided and for this reason). Basically you have a hodge-podge of symbols and need to discover syncretism in them, solidifing grasps over finer alchemies that magic upon the Aegean gave birth to. Rocks have a hardness of 10 and the marble versions have a hardness of 20 with the stipulation that you use mithril to harvest them. This is also your ticket to completing the garb of the Crown of Eurydice, and incising draconic runes upon the weapons breathes the past's magic into your raiment.

I read that. More confusion. I have no idea what to do.

Aranea do you know what to post? I'll follow along and see if anything makes sense

Does it seem that killing these elementals is the only way to secure the dark fire?

How many elementals are there? And what type are there? It seems that they are transmorphing and doing stuff.

At the moment I can't work out what the situation is, other than the graphic description. In order to post I have to know

• What our goal is
• What the situation is in terms of enemies
• What the situation is in terms of the description of the surroundings

• The first... I am not sure about. I guess it's kill elementals.
• The second... no idea at all.
• The third... is descriptive and pretty and I am happy with it

---

Suggestion
I think I would like a clear 'Status' block at the end of a GMs post. It could look like this. Without it I have no idea what the immediate surrounding is

--

For now
I'll go attack another fire elemental. I assume there are still fire elementals around, but I'm not sure...

I'm okay with our goal right now being a kind of amorphous -secure liberty and favor of the city- and -gather mystic gear to make that happen.

I feel like the Greeks Pantheon and the dark lord are both fighting over the city. I just don't feel like we are particularly attached to one side or the other, though I do feel like our characters have evolutionary imperative to be opposed to the dark lord.

Part of me wants to go to a quest menu for brief synopsis of how we can meet the stated goals.

Like I don't know who the priestess is working for, or what's going on with a mage by the lake that was mentioned earlier, and I guess that's fine if my character's knowledge religion and knowledge are kind of or just supposed to not be enough to understand what's going on right now.

The sword and shield you're using, Lady Maevre, allow you to phase out, striking with renewed intensity at the blending shapes constituting the elemental composite. You turn black and shift color alternately, forming a web of darkness that envelops you and Aranea in a cosseting glow. Contumacious feracity strikes and leaves your size making an appearance with the Parthenon towering over you, rocky outcroppings shifting before you and reflecting your Assassin's Stance. Your goal is to remind the chorus about the literacy of the general population, whose chanting is known world-wide and in fact ghe dark god Izrador had sent you a command to slay the elementals and bring him the chassis of their corpses to develop new spell fructa. The claws of attack that someone had fought in this exact spot before with, end up settling scores with the gods, who wipes their hands in a gesture of good will. The wheat and the chaff set the chimes which you hear in the background level off with the clop of horses winding through their efforts at locomotion in a skene best equipped to level up in the ascent of the city. The etheral plane sits ladled in a cake of generalities, tipping over the glass victuals absorbing magical energy. You can sense that elsewhere in the city, the stained glass warps slightly with magical tension, some of the windows bursting with a fell call re-arranging the gods' vocal cords in a defiant literality, Cerberus harboring glass dragons in his sodden flesh, the flight of a dragon over the city displaying a fine patina of ashen scales, light armor adorning many of the immediate responders who patrol as part of the garrison.

Litigious endeavors couch the ranged touch attacks of the elementals in religious fervor, fervid and florid beams of accumulated energy faintly pulsing, forbidden technology that hovers in the patterns so beknownst to air. Glass air and jars sitting forbidden upon the miasma select fireballs and beams of light that emerged from a bottle of cure moderate wounds, tricky saliva edifying taste and there is a somnolent plaintive that resounds with critical energy.

Assassin stance creates potion
Pottion merges with elementals
Hit dice doubled
Glass dragons above the city grant a ranged touch attack
You sense the plains outside the city wave with divine wind
Izrador crunches the glass in his mouth to bloody the fields

The stats for the fire elemental are posted on the d20srd.org. https://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/elemental.htm .

He attempts to slam you, initiating a process by which the acid fangs filled with fire ants resound with glory in your needling presence, and the metamorphosis fills in the gaps in the air with cuts that discus their way into your spell field which travels with you, a scrying torchlight that draws you nearer, inviting you to redouble your efforts in choosing which magical energies will harm the elemental. The sonorous glass that Izrador crunches makes him spit blood in your direction, solidifying toxic waste that blends and cutting, re-seals the power vacuum with a slurping noise almost like the escape of steam from a tired old piston.

Webs appear, chanting "Aranea," and with a fortitude roll that I rolled for you, makes known that the acid bites down upon your skin, causing the webs to rotate with color. You see a small spider web ruffling the wind and it seems to settle upon you with effulgence, the chorus attached as a word cloud to the redactable curoisities, glass swords enveighing upon your mind with the weight of the ages.

The DC is 15 to allow the cold webs to dissolute the center of the webs, causing effects unknown, but the egregious sounds of iron, glass, and timber seem to invoke an idyllic resurgence of light that unmans the masculine presence of the eye. You both succeed, with a 15 for Lady Maevre and a 17 for Aranea, of re-aligning the vestibule in the garments of some of the weathered statues, which land with aplomb.

Sorry I didn't post for awhile, I was busy. Now I'm going to bump the prompt.

Still no other word about new players or messages from the old.

https://www.mediafire.com/view...f_pelluria.jpg/file#

https://www.mediafire.com/view...tone_docks.jpg/file#

Maps for perusal.

This was great. Lots of status and really simple. Now I know there are four fire elementals and some sort of giant

Of course most of my attacks don't work against fire elementals or fire giants... Doubly don't work work on fire elementals.


This would be nice. But I don't have one

However I do have some earth powers and I will try those out if we meet air elementals.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:39, Fri 03 Mar 2023.

slay astirax: level 7 spell

magic curve: slow / as Heroic Paths only go up to level 10 (and lady Maevre's Swordsage and Blade Dancer indicate a Heroic Path), prestige classes such as the blackguard and assassin offer spells earlier in formation, so what is normally a level 10 mage who gets access to level 7 spells gains one more spell per day of each level, as the "difficulty level" of the campaign necessitates more bennies given out to centralize the focus on higher level encounters with smaller groups.

CR and LA work in tandem so there is a proliferation of astirax of (x) levels given at any time a level boost based on distance to its master. slay astirax allows certain herbs to poison the main arbiters of legionnaires' activities such as using scent to produce a powerful chemical resounding, capable of alerting the astirax to the presence of magic, which makes their eyes glow an even deeper red. the spell is a metamagic feat that, according to the paragraph above, can work as a level 5 spell, reciprocally formed into a level 7 spell.

dance of flames works like fireball only being the enlarged version thereof and thus exists at a different level of magical effusion than its predecessor.

cross-class skills imply that if you have 3 or more prestige classes, you can augment a skill of your choice with a plus ten, giving synergy to 3 class skills which were formerly cross-class skills and use these to select a feat that suits your "role," be it damage, spells, or targetting

languages are all fantasy, except for Trader's Tongue, which is phonetically English but using the latin script.

feats:

Concentration Well: if you imbue an item with energy from a Power Nexus via a scroll or wand, the well becomes present in your mind and you are able to augment 3 spells of your choice.

Concentration Lapse: If you are disabled or dying, you may concentrate into a death state. This feat can be acquired for free, i.e. without levelling up, by sipping the philosopher's tonic, something you heard is available at Skie's Treasury

Concentration Juke: Compare your Concentration roll to your opponent's. If you succeed in trumping his role, you get to re-roll a spell in the next ten rounds.



The fire giant is tied to the power nexus that sits in the center of the village and the color that centers over it is able to influence the color scheme of the village at night or during dawn, witht he respective gods and their shrines open to influence with multiple attacks being more fruitful at night if the weapon is dipped in the center lake, Crater Lake. It also doubles the bonuses from the above concentration feats.

Just wanted to let you all know help is on the way....not sure when, but hopefully soon...

NPC groups are potentially becoming your followers, this is not a scripted rule though so you never know if you can gain control of them simply with a diplomacy roll, and if that's critical, then you get a bunch from the local garrison to enfuse your current batch.

Silver tongues provide good results and it is the case that some of the more experimental of the musicians in the city use silver tongues literally to summon vampires, Eleni included, as she is a half-vampire. They are known to serve Hades, having passed through the caverns of Styx and there is a slight incline towards the vertically oriented river that spans time and clobbers and drowns any adventurers who descend into it at the 9th circle below the city. Troubadors are around as are the bowls for dogs to drink from, and you never know when Cerberus is going to rear its ugly head but you can expect that toward the end of the campaign. Each of his heads is needing to be slain but he will, of course, be revived by Hades with the sacrifice of a dog.

Slam and teeth are modified to the extent that they are what exists in Occipitus, the red glare on the dogs' eyes that can be focused on to cast magic. You feel intense magical overlays when the dogs' eyes are around. You seek to tame the wilderness and investigate the warrens that proliferate beneath the city. The population is currently around 3 million, and there are multiple competing magic shops around but Skie's is the best-equipped for your styles as adventurers. The changing population figures result from the waviness of the magic, altering the city's fabric quite literally, and whenever the wind blows, you can navigate through it by using Wands of Illumination, almost like dowsing rods but with literal magic.

The slope of the city is such that it reflects a general trend of deer running uphill, and they are sometimes spotted in the city but the creatures outside the gate drink their blood to imbue their weapons with Blooddrinker. There is a whimsy that speckles the taverns of the city and their ales are crafted by the finest ale-wives this side of Aryth. The wood is harvested from outside but you are susceptible to multiple leech-like parasites if you venture outside the city, so don't forget your rubber boots. The grape vine yields that once the battle is done you are able to make some new friends in your followers, who will move away from you towards other cities in the region (Midnight map) and you hear tales of Cambrial, and freeing that city is an option undertaken by the would-be followers, those whose larger sentimentality brings forth the options in the future, kind of like a dichotomous key. Unlocking memories is key to the eventual slaying of the Dark God, and his fire-breathing horses were in many of the books in the library that you had looked through while maintaining a network of portals. The large mammals outside the gates are wanting their fangs sharpened on some fresh meat but there is the natural defense itself that shelters them. Going forth after this combat you are able to submit to the will of the jungle and thus bring out the Erunsil to swing on the vines a bit.

Hey Jack. Glad to have you with us

@GM
OK thanks. A ton of info there

Glad to be here, just trying to get myself together and my character finalized, look forward to getting into the thick of things with everyone....

I was not sure if people know what each others PC's are or if they "know" each other.

I can share details if it is "authorized".

We decided on backstory that has us part of a team that has worked together for a little while. This is kind of our first 'big job'

Oh in that case
I have a nice pole arm and a spiked gauntlet, and am basically a trapfinding skill monkey who happens to channel spells through said guisairme.

Human guy type

I am also a scout trying the feat
Quick Reconnoiter

( Complete Adventurer, p. 112)

[General]

You can learn a lot of information from just a quick scan of an area or object.
Prerequisite
Listen 5 ranks, Spot 5 ranks,
Benefit
You can make one Spot check and one Listen check each round as a free action. You also gain a +2 bonus on initiative checks.
Normal
Using Spot or Listen in a reactive fashion is a free action, but actively trying to make a Spot check or Listen check requires a move action.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:33, Thu 09 Mar 2023.

Getting closer to getting everything in place.  Will be ready soon.

Factotum 3 / Duskblade 3....

Decent melee character, tripper, scout trapfinder, etc......

Not sure who all is active in the game, but looking forward to adventuring...
This message was last edited by the player at 16:35, Fri 10 Mar 2023.

Aranea, you and I are active as far as I know

There is a chance you can steal the belongings of the fire giant. His corpse is considered critical to getting the glass you need, giantglass. The ultimate goal is to construct a house of glass using giantglass and obsidian, with which you'll need to travel through the wilderness and chances are you'll face shadowspawn. You don't know what they are, but they are the most primal of the beasts in the region. A random encounter will ensue after the gates drop, and you'll need to carry the fire giant's corpse to the church to fragment it and end up on the other side of the Sea of Pelluria. See map that I posted. The church also needs paint which you can bring over from the other city Highwall. It's huge, and as the water laps against the docks there is a notion that there are power nexuses that need to be harvested in the region, so you'll face them and have to fight their guardians.

Several giantglass, obsidian,, church icons and black fire can be traded with the city of Highwall, but there is reputed an underground crime network there. This is all once you finish the combat with the fire giant and you will face Drakthar under the city once you've traded the goods.

I am waiting for the proper intro time, it seems like it might be a minute.

Looking forward to meeting everyone.

Sorry, I've shifted schedule by about 7 hours which is a super weird interval. My body is not adjusting well. I will try to post again in character after I get some sleep.

No problem Aranea, hope you can rejoin us soon. The nature of things at the time is such that the docks of Baden's Bluff rap against the waves in an effort to bring trade into focus, especially with the necessary repairs after the riots took place. You never know if they might erupt again with the same intensity.

Hookface would probably be known by those who are of the red and black robes, and this is the nature of the church of Wee Jas. Their initiates would be good people to talk to to institute relations with the gods, who number in the thousands of hit points assuming they take on corporeal form. The objects of the city glow and lift in their presence, and you suspect they didn't have any other route to choose, meaning Cauldron is high-magic and low magic simultaneously, asserting its epic form. This means that ACs jump around the 30 to 40 level for most of the beings you will encounter near Cauldron but beneficial abilities such as Charge have less of an effect. The nature of high magic is that the city stands erect, made of glass-like appendages that are hard to destroy, and the very fabric of the city stands with creatures wavy that form a backbone structure, and repairing it requires the use of chitin from these AC 30-40 creatures who need to be taken down with magic, ie.. high magic. The travel time from Cauldron to Highwall is 3 days by horse and horses are relatively cheap but warrant some cultural affixations. If you find a horse, you're likely to be observing a particular astral constellation, and many in this world would argue that the quarries are a good place to harness the power of mother nature. Flux is the idea here, with creatures able to hide in plain sight, and the giants are able to literally contain space. The truth is unknown, but there is a forge in the city that supposedly makes giant-slaying gear.

Is anyone able to tell me what specific crunch they're most interested in so that I can stylize the game in this direction? The lore will be leaning toward Midnight and Shackled City and so the commentary and fluff will be drawn from that, but as I've said it's open milieu.

So the options for the upcoming path (ignoring some of the bullshit stream I posted that didn't catch and led nowhere) are thus:

Get the glass after traversing the regions around the city
Revisiting old friends in Highwall who are trade contacts and potential allies against the Shadow
Talking to Skye as she apparently has all the best magic items around
Finding a means to transport the corpse of the slain fire giant to another temple in Highwall, shoring up the purpose of travel there.

Those threads are loosely what I would suggest doing, without explicitly saying those are the only options. The city can be described more as you travel around, but now it's a bustling crowd that is calming down, so you never know if someone might spot you travelling around or re-entering the city. You see several people who make eyes at you, and you never know if you'll see them again, like in a modern metropolis.

So one of your goals for now is to figure out if the riots are tied to the Shadow's activities, but you don't know if anyone was disguised insurgent groups.

On that note,

"Someone says to you,, 'Are you able to help us bring glad tidings to the other city'"?

Hookface flies over the city, showing off his wings. Maybe he was responsible for the riot. How are you going to locate him?

Trade is the name of the game seeing as a Tithe is upcoming, and it's probably magic items being added to the coffers.

Does that help at all or is there a critique that would help me out?

Making new friends and learning new things are on the top of my list....trade contact, allies and skye may have some interesting things.....

Expanding trade and territory we influence is probably best.

If someone PMed me, my apologies seeing as the prompt was red but shifted to blue, did anyone PM me besides Eorien Fellstave?

The cold winds of the plains of the Northlands whipped up by the Sea of Pelluria witness the attrition of the underground catacombs known as the Underdark. Then again there might be buried creatures on the way to Highwall or creatures erupting from the grassy earth, the grass being blood red.

I did not send any PM's

So, I guess I'm with the group now?

Given that all of us go before nay of them, does initiative order matter much?  Also, is there a combat map?

Hi people

Sorry I have been away for a couple of weeks: nasty cold/flu (third this winter...) + real life hassles.

I'll catch up tomorrow

I went ahead and posted (not my action for the round)....
I asked the same question re: initiative order..

We don't have to post in initiative order. Just 'monsters' and 'us'. It doesn't work if you have to wait for every player in the right order

Eoiren, I tend to do more freeform combat so the syntax dictates where people are, aside from spatial exceptions such as where the spells originate from and where they end up.　So ultimately movement is in 3D space but things like attacks of opportunity aren't playing a big role. So the combat map is fully internalized.

Which OOC are we actually supposed to use? Can you archive the old ones or something?

DM you said there were only a few players now?

It is tough to keep up with what is going on. I feel like past, present, and at least two possibile futures happens in nearly every post.

Not sure what is happening sometimes as well...

If we still have the old players (looks like a small degree anyway), then things are looking good. My style will be a bit off-the-wall, but I hope that doesn't determine people leaving the game and so forth. Thus I would like to field some criticism, as I largely write in a post-modern prose mode. Basically I was trying to set out a goal, with combats in between.

Some ideas:
Would you guys like descriptive combats or more number-crunching?
Which aspects of 3.5 appeal the most to you, and how would that affect which themes are used?
How do you guys want the prose style to lean, to the best of my ability?

The gods are there to maintain good vibes across the board, but any criticism would be well-received, especially when it comes to running the game with a balance of high and low-magic, basically because I really like the Midnight setting and like to see the bad guys win, good guys don't exist, but high-risk situations are couched in high-power magic items in the least, justified as the climb up the "level ladder."

Not sure if Lady Maevre is going to show up, along with anyone else who was a consistent poster.

As we left things, the bandits outside the town maintain a watchtower and the ultimate goal is to activate the power nexuses in order to create epic magic items, which are ulimately, priceless. But mundane items still cost gold pieces. The gods will be split on who they side with as per myth. But I tend to lean more toward player sovereignty being the main focus. Gods won't just automatically help you.

So the astirax are coming at you with their human masters. What about this is unclear, or what do you want changed? Is the location clear, and where you need to go? Largely you can travel anywhere in the city Cauldron or throughout the environs of Midnight, predicated on the idea that mechanics from 3.5 depend on multiple sources. Calderin is the next stop, where the bandits hail from. Are they your friends or your enemy? Only time spent in travel will tell, but most importantly, how should I change the game?

Quil, I like to play it simple with the interface but am willing to change the OOC, I just don't know how. If I can't figure it out, we can go with the biggest integer, so I'll try to re-name it.

Also, can I get a roll call so that I can edit the player list some time down the road? This can come along with more experience with rpol features but how Lady Maevre made a text-box that is too hard for me at the moment, but I'll try to make a decent organization of the rule-based elements.

Text box?



You can "Archive" threads away so players can't see them buy putting them in a group no one has access to.

While in the thread > Edit thread (top right) > Top most drop down is "New Thread" select Z

The actual archive button just gives everyone GM-vision for private and secret lines and closes the thread.

One neat feature of being the GM on here is that if you click to "edit" someone's post you will get to see their code. If you don't actually save the edit their post remains the same but you can copy neat tricks they may have done that you don't understand.

As to combat:
While I am used to turn by turn that does take a long time in this format. I expect turn by turn in games unless it is told otherwise. That said; while we are talking about it- I would be fine formalizing that it will not be the case if people want to do that to save time. We would need to devise tactics and such to suggest we are getting better at working together.

As to rewards:
We may be able to determine some resources we could gain from dealing with certain threats... Some may just be threats with no reasonable clue at rewards. We should probably never know that if they are combined certain ways they make certain things... some resources may not have observable threats associated with them. It would be reasonable for us to research uses of resources we have from time to time.

As to story:
I am feeling like the bad guys are winning I'm just not sure I have a feeling like I can even survive being a good guy. Maybe that is your point- if so... Bravo. I was mistaken thinking I was supposed to be playing a good guy though.

To Aranea and Jack Springhill, I'll post the next IC once we figure out the number of players. Right now it seems like you two older players plus Quil are posting. Once we have four, I can continue at a steady clip.

Once again, I will ask for roll call and if no one shows up we can move forward despite the low number of players. Are those of you who haven't responded waiting for an introduction to your characters? Or should we try to recruit some more players?

I had a PBP DM once upon a time that broke the DM voices into different entities  in a way, the storyteller/narrator was different from the mechanics DM (referee) or something like that.

So most "DM" posts were actually 2, if one it would just say you are up instead of waiting on DM....

Still here.

So if it helps to get a recap from the DM's point of view, the power nexus in the south needs to be activated, and to achieve this, the party must load up on goods from Highwall. From Highwall to the power nexus which sits outside the outpost of Caulderin. The current combat sits astride the unnamed outpost where bandits thrive. Astiraxes and blink dogs roam at night here, when the undead rise from their graves and plague the earth as though the Argonauts have swept through leaving skeletons in their wake. The blighted earth of the Fell slows your mind slightly as you traverse with faerie fire dotting all that you can see, barrenness and desolation of great import.

Progress saw the goods sloughed off on Highwall and the magic items here were a lucky find, the current encounter the result; Highwall had flown under the radar but is now leveraged at night with a swarm of bodiless feeding astirax, which toy with the mind like Trapped between their own state and that of mortal ken. Bottling an astirax form is an option. The obsidian glass from the fire giant jettisoned you (in a manner of speaking) from Skie's Treasury toward the power nexus. Be warned that you may have to run away at breakneck speeds and might want to use conducive spells or items, assuming you have any. Astirax generally means legates will be using powerful magic that is rare to most adventurers.

The blighted southern Eredane awaits and you hear rumors of the elves in-fighting but to travserse the paths toward the elven forests is dangerous, most keenly aware not to leave fires going or use light-based magic unless hidden. Several groups of similar ken you will find meandering the shoddy roads, but if you go to the elves, several of their craft (of gnomish make) will sluice towards the raiding parties, riddling them with arrows, as per the legend.

It might be good if we could spend a little time conversing amongst ourselves about this overall goal and talking backstory and what we can know about each other ...

Like taking shelter in a ruin or cave whilst a storm rages outside and our good DM giving reward (XP) for Roleplay....

In reply to wlake.gmtn (msg # 62):

I pasted this into my scratchpad for reference moving forward....

I made sure to make them a little easier to find on my character sheet. I also included the brief summary of them at the bottom in my frequent combat actions section.

Just came back around to the game, for whoever's interested I am still willing to run.

I am still around.....
...I am always lurking and playing on rpol.

I'm still here. What game is this?

It is a 6th level D&D 3.5 game.....

Glad you're back in action as well, Jack, and Quil, a little disorientation is only natural. ;)

Also, the latest is that the raiders outside the city were getting taken out on the way to Highwall. I'm gonna go through the new interface to see what's available, if there's still a map or two kicking around the margins or if I have to upload everything again. Just checked, everything carried over from what I can tell.

There's enough action to go around for a good while yet, so ultimately the gods will continue their stormy reign and dark will clash with light.

It is a bit grimdark and action packed!

Not sure if we are supposed to be the fading light or the edge of darkness... Or just poor bastards caught out after dark.

Skie's Treasury is open for expansion in case anyone is available to assist with the cart loads. And then the city of Cauldron experiences another volcano. It is said that the magic items she sells can withstand even the deepest of the magma "floes." Several bigwigs are awaiting reception in Highwall for a chance at winning some kind of lottery, with a ton of travelers realizing their potential in a long line around the pallisades, and the bandits' black skin is matched only by their ragged garb. The harp the city is well-known for is said to be possessed by a soldiery that perhaps you can consult with, but everybody's currently worried about the volatility of the city.

My guess is enough of the delay tactics on this GM's part and off to relay the combat in proper fashion. Dunno if Lady Maevre and the others will be returning, so for now I'll crunch the combat, and keep the IC thread for strictly less rumors more combat.

Maybe some re-introductions for the PCs who are returning would make some sense?

Jack is a Silverbrow human
Who is a Factotum 3 / Duskblade 3

Who currently has a gusairme (polearm) and spiked gauntlets

Aranea is a robed young lady with a little bit of makeup on lending her face a mask like quality sometimes. She has an alchemical crossbow to which she has attached a vial of venom. She has hand tools but uses a kind of open hand martial art for close quarters combat that lets her strike a lot of times she is a biter.

She maneuvers up walls and ceilings. She also maintains a few alchemical vials.

Upon knowing her better or a good Nature or Arcana check there is more.

I didn't even get to the point of having a class picked.

Making a new character! How exciting for you!

The guidelines for character creation are such that there is an intermingling with the narrative framework (in the initial posts), but basically as Jack says, start at level 6, use any 3.5 material.

The world of Midnight is literally like a color overlay of the basic terrain, almost like blight where the landscape is heavily inclined toward the Shadow. But there is also the idea that the land maintained by humans maintains some classical worship and thus the lands sort of belong to the Resistance. So your character would need to know this going into his history, probably it's the case that he grew up where Resistance is strong, somewhere protected like the forests of Cambrial. The heroes go against great odds and the magical fabric means it's dangerous to be in a place like Cauldron, where magic is maintained by the Shadow and there are rips in the fold that lead to the deaths of many citizens by monsters summoned by Izrador and his priests. It's like living in Florida. So your character would probably be joining up with the group and emerging from a lifestyle of relative danger into one of great danger.

Alright.

Anyone else still around that has not checked in yet?


@QB anything specific you are thinking about making?
I almost went swiftblade for myself, I am instead planning to go into chameleon....

There is a lot of 3.5 to wrap my head back around. It's been a while since I dealt with it.

I've been looking at some options. Maybe Tomb of Battle, maybe Psionic.

Those could be great!

I never got around to playing any of the initiator classes from Tome of Battle or psionics....

Cannot be an easy choice....

and the other options on base classes
Psychic Rogue for example.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:25, Thu 29 Feb.

I'm working on combining the concepts the real question is how much "Well this is legal by raw but comes from 6 different books" Tom foolery are we putting up with.

Right now. I'm like Wilder 5, WarBlade 1. Because weirdly by the book you can start with all max level (2nd in this case) sword move thingies that way.

I play in a game with a warblade, a pretty cool class.  I have seen him do some impressive things.

I am not exactly sure how his class works or even the psionics part.

There are a few sources that SHOULDN'T but could be used in combination.

I kept all my strangeness to just one source for sanity purposes.

I am not even completely sure I recall what other people were even playing at all.

I hope you get to enjoy your strangeness in character for a good while.

I was briefly overwhelmed getting back into 3.5 and considered just playing a werewolf, no class levels.

I have no class levels. I'm a spider... Mostly. Most of the time.

That sounds like a pretty good joke:
A Jack a werewolf and a spider walk into a tavern.....

Any player expectations to incorporate? I'm trying to provide enough of a backbone to get you players to bite. But the latest post is inclusive of more combat, which is what I thought might be lacking; the initiative order is as per the post before last in the IC thread. Trying also to provide enough seeds to grow into a veritable Yggdrasil. And people have mentioned bugs on the site, messages not going through and so forth, so kindly forbear to expect a fully streamlined game, but I like the new interface, glad it got cleaned up before playing the new sessions. Are you guys able to post in the IC thread until Quil makes an official appearance?

Apparently yes I was able to post...if I got the right thread.

02:18, Today: Quil Blighteye rolled 13 using 4d6, dropping the lowest dice only with rolls of 1,4,6,3. – 13

02:18, Today: Quil Blighteye rolled 9 using 4d6, dropping the lowest dice only with rolls of 4,1,3,2. – 9

02:18, Today: Quil Blighteye rolled 12 using 4d6, dropping the lowest dice only with rolls of 6,2,4,2. – 12

02:18, Today: Quil Blighteye rolled 9 using 4d6, dropping the lowest dice only with rolls of 2,2,4,3. – 9

02:18, Today: Quil Blighteye rolled 8 using 4d6, dropping the lowest dice only with rolls of 1,5,2,1. – 8

02:18, Today: Quil Blighteye rolled 8 using 4d6, dropping the lowest dice only with rolls of 1,4,1,3. – 8

Nice chatting with you all. I'll see myself out...

Wait a minute...the cursed dice roller strikes again!

Perhaps the good DM would allow you one of the arrays such as the  elite array or something like that...

Get to reroll stats every time you die. You just watch me slap that 8 in Con and build a melee wizard.

(The DM goes on to fudge every roll so that I survive out of pure spite, lol)

Looking forward to meeting your character....

Me too... I'm still bouncing between iterations on my original idea. I need to get the stats thing figured out since I can't qualify for feats with 8's in everything.

I think I'm going to end up on a Thrallherd with a vaguely psionic Warblade cohort.

Like I think I need to go the caster route with the way the party is set up. Not that I will have that many powers. But I would also totally just play that Cohort or some variation on it. Like I think Warblade 4 Wilder 2 sort of works out.

Good times, indeed!

I have done an "attack" in the main thread, so awaiting the good DM to post.

Sorry for the delay, I didn't know if Quil was going to jump in, so we can slot him into the combat from a perhaps psionics-related bit of travelling, level 3 spells indicating that someone could hypothetically ride a Grease spell like it was a teleport, fusing the repartee of the environment with a sort of devilish style, like Devil May Cry.

I'll wait until he brings his character into things before proceeding with the next combat round.

Essentially what I was looking at was a blood-red sunset that seeps into wounds like the very ichor itself of the monsters. Blood is a good way of denoting one's alignment and type of monster, not to mention hit dice. Izrador's blood is rumoured to be the blackest ichor imaginable, staining the land when he flies overhead.

Quil takes upon his psionics and as I sent to him in the PM, there's a latent (or obvious) danger to using psionics, as the rumour is that it's even more powerful than magic when at the higher levels, almost like it's the only way to defeat Izrador. And yet the gods view it through the lens of taboo.

So the blood red sun; you note its position in the sky to denote your newest path, always rolling towards Highwall.

I am hoping to make some good progress with the character, hopefully once I am into both arcane a divine magic I will be more useful.

Classic magic at higher levels, offset a bit by the bleakness of the world, aside from strongholds where magic is volatile and yet somehow rare.

Waiting for Quil to finish up and then we can cruise forward.

Still looking forward to a new "person" joining up.

Above is from a PM to Quil, whose manipulator-style Telepath mysteriously appears in a fashion of his choosing around the highwayman's outpost in a way unique to this part of the world.

Aranea's frost magic remains static, glyphing in a blue rictus of power, certain to blast the astirax and cultists with slowing stodgy numbness. Though somewhat resistant to cold, the undead will be slowed nevertheless. My assumption is that Aranea is targetting a "cultist," matched in blue by the blood-red sun descending in the sky.

Spiders and Reapers (referring to Aranea and Jack respectively [if you want to be called something else do let me know, I'm going with Aranea's mythology and Jack's picture]) will be in high demand soon enough, just enough to barter for the scalps of this bandit outpost. Stranger things had been seen in this dark world, and I'll get to the post for the next round once Quil shows up. I'm willing to roll with 3 players for now, but will post in the wanted thread to see about 4 or more. But I'm interested in how you players feel about the number of players total?

I am thinking of Jack like a strange version of Gambit from the X-men, trapfinding and disarm skills, and some limited "powers" mostly charging strange energies into my weapons....with a bunch of useful tricks to deal with surprises

Maybe what I've been misunderstanding has been hinted at just now. It feels almost like we are playing squads rather than individuals. And my anymore squad being called the spiders is perfectly reasonable and acceptable.

Hope that was all right. I took some creative liberties.

Also after I bought gear my portrait became a bit inaccurate.

I think it is just us, not heard anything about teams so to speak.

I think your post was good!

Greetings, what classes are present? I was thinking wizard or druid or both, but I'm flexible to cover anything needed.

I'm a psion. I've got some blaster and control spells.

What class are Aranea and Jack? I'll hold off just a bit on my sheet until I know what we need. I want to get it done by tomorrow or Sunday though because I don't want to hold things up.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:54, Fri 15 Mar.

Jack is a factotum 3 Duskblade 3
who is going into chameleon next level

And Aaranea is just the Arenea Monster class I believe.

A werespider, cool, I'd never heard of it before!

The factotum covers thief, the Psion covers wizard pretty much, the spider does a little as fighter and I'm not sure what else, I don't know her full range of powers, what would you prefer be covered? Cleric?
This message was last edited by the player at 15:54, Fri 15 Mar.

The species is higher ECL so she isn't full grown and I changed the feats of the species for something a bit more aggressive.

Technically is is a Fey Spider kind of thing.

Ahh, cool.

What's going on IC? Sounds almost like a never ending battle!

A bit of a battle, and the Psion just jumped out of the ether to our aid, so you may be able to join before the battle ends as well!

The IC thread is in a good spot, I think. I was considering putting creature rolls and stats and so forth in there, but in the last post most of it stayed hidden, obviously.

The CR is pliable given the very nature of Aranea's attacks, we can all assume that she is able to wield things with her eight limbs, and that shapeshifting is a pretty painful transition but necessary for the pursuit of power. If Daelemen is a cleric that would balance things out considerably. I guess the hand axe or dagger would compliment your physiology well, and waving your hands furiously you can take out people using unarmed combat as well. Jack's stats are beast-like, and your Torch Bug Paste that lets you spread faerie fire means there is a binding to the Miraleen fires set by orcs, a prized commodity the carcasses of torch  bugs, especially armor for spellcasters, potentially fusing it to your body to LA like Aranea. Quil's psychic connections means he'll have access to inert summons but as Aranea was saying, there's a Reign-like element (companies) given the hidden rolls but I can modify that. Certitudes abound the finnicky nature of magic, gotta be careful with it, for player death will play a major roll. But given re-rolling characters your character can become sustained by the gods with a magical loophole to maintain basic immortality.

Of course I roll a one...

Cleric is now mostly done. Need to finish getting gear and pick spells to prepare. You can check in if you want boss! I probably won't finish until morning, only have about an hour before bedtime! ;-)

Do we need horses and such? Or not?
This message was last edited by the player at 22:51, Fri 15 Mar.

Haven't encountered any such logistics yet, we travel well at the speed of plot, though if you wanted to be a mounted knight kind of character then by all means...

Aranea SHOULD only be able to look human or hybrid for a few hours each day, by the book, but I think we inverted it to say she can only be hybrid or spider for a limited time each day... an adjustment for setting and ease of interaction.

Daelamin is done except for choosing spells! Ready for inspection boss!

No worries Jack will vouch for any of his existing friends, no matter how much they may look like horror movie main characters.....

I can see into your very soul and know that you are a worth ally. (also I can push a solid +30 to sense motive)

Feeling reassured now, thanks.

That last sentence reads like Jack either died or was forced to flee(actually both so I am a little confused).

Also, if Aranea was delivered cold damage, she has some extra defense there... Resist 10 cold. Not sure if that was accounted in the 8 you posted or if I was again just a little confused by the verbage.

spells selected.

Looks like a super list means I will probably arcane focus when I go chameleon, and let you handle the cleric side at least until I get to double aptitude focus...

Any news on when you are jumping/leaping in?

No idea.

I can post an update tomorrow. In the meantime, Daelamin, did you want your character to arrive in any given way or with a destination in mind?

I'll leave it up to you, you're the DM! ;-)

If you have to make an entrance, do it with style!!!!


I thought Aranea was up to post...I have been waiting on her due to initiative order...
This message was last edited by the player at 00:04, Tue 19 Mar.

Anyone have any interesting things to talk about their PC or build or anything else related?

I think 6 ECL is an interesting way to do it. Though EVERY source book is probably a bit much. I was really tempted to make a character that SHOULDN'T be made because I could.

I think I found 4 that fall into that category.

I never even tried that.

Sounds like one of those threads about character concepts or builds that were just crazy or broken or something else.

I guess we will get a chance to figure out how broken or crazy these builds can get!

Any upgrade (gear, enchantment, etc) you want sooner than later for yourself?

Daelamin, I noticed one of your abilities was from "CD." Just wondering which one that was, and Aranea, I see something to the effect of using everything just because everyone has different libraries. I would say, based on your suggestion, that anything Paizo or Midnight is obviously covered but I also have some other books in the 3.5 canon. Sharing pdfs is an option but I don't own that many.

Jack, I don't mind broken builds as long as you don't mind player death. ;)

Certainly, there are limitations as to what is permissable, but we can fly by the seat of our pants. So the current combat could be noticed and we'll spend the rest of the time trekking through the wilderness in which you guys will get some good sleeps in, and perhaps Daelamin will be able to test the sun's power against the long road ahead. The roads are somewhat well-maintained for purposes of garrison.

I am guessing complete divine or cleric domains is the CD in question.

Jack is currently subpar 3/3
as both factotum and duskblade have both taken a huge hit just in being multiclass,,,

Chameleon should help fix that soon(ish) we hope!
This message was last edited by the player at 00:49, Wed 20 Mar.

Amulet of Mighty Fists is a necessity for my character with the raw number of natural weapons.

Though perhaps similarly enchanted Combat Hand wraps would be better.

Robes of Armor, Bracers or other non-armor defense are important as monsters are only proficient in gear in their block... Which is zero.

I can supply reasonable silk for enchanting material, possibly fangs, or molted shells.

Not sure what things can help you or not as far as armor or anything else, I would assume that if barding can be made for any sort that a mitheral chain shirt should be possible?




I have a nice armor spell that might be useful to you.  as it you could have it for hours, If we had a lesser rod of extend it could last all day!
This message was last edited by the player at 02:10, Wed 20 Mar.

Unfortunately barding is armor-armor and none is listed in the block for aranea. She has plenty of room for bracers or robes(current outfit).

The tough bit is where to go in two levels. Monk would file a lot of redundancy, probably fighter for the extra combat feats.

Would mage armor help?

It probably would as it doesn't require proficiency. Aranea has no armor

Hopefully we  get a chance to sort that out once the  battle is done!!!

I'm ready to come in when I get brought in by the DM! ;-)

Ok, I need to be removed from this game. I really can't deal with reading the GM's posts.

I hate to hear that you are leaving so soon...

Maybe some suggestions from you to make posts more readable or formatted differently?


I typically do read DM posts multiple times before posting, as a general rule for myself during play by post games...

Sorry for the delay, guys, I was waiting for people to post and got a little distracted with RL affairs. Sorry to hear that you're leaving us, Quil, the style is a bit florid.

Daelamin, I posted a couple of sentences in the last IC post, ideally you arrive in fine fashion having travelled on a ley line from Apollo, shot from his bow from several hundred yards out. I'll post more in the other IC post for today. The agglutination of prose has appeal for some, but not for others, i.e. Quil. If anyone has other suggestions, do feel free to let me know.

Hand wraps are going to be common as martial arts are big in this world, given everyone's stealing magic items and they're guaranteed to be thrown through a loop by inert yet shinto-esque reliability on what's natural; The raw power of the body and grittiness mean you're connecting to a mother nature whose world is in bolder contours. River craft are thus prized and buildings are rare in smaller towns. War is simultaneously lambasted and ubiquitous, but all wait for the day when the armies are able to march on the pithy stronghold of Izrador. It's not easy to find.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:22, Sat 23 Mar.

 "ideally you arrive in fine fashion having travelled on a ley line from Apollo, shot from his bow from several hundred yards out."

Huh? I'm not an arrow.

I'm sorry, but I couldn't understand much of what you just wrote. :-( Way too flowery with big words I don't know. I thought I had a very good vocabulary, I guess I don't.

Honestly it sounds like a hallucinating chatbot.



Like all this. Making a statement and then with no sort of transition just throwing us into long flowery flavor text. A lot of the time using terms that we don't necessarily have good context for.

Hopefully things will be different but I don't forsee my style changing much. Ideally it would mesh with you better but if you stuck around, you could always just make shit up, honestly I wouldn't mind much. Anything as close as possible to the Dreamweaver of China Mieville.

Honestly I've read a bunch of RPG books but haven't had much actual gaming experience, hence the style. But your character was really interesting and the sense motive would have to apply to the DM's later plan for your character, i.e. Quil now works for Izrador as a guarantor of astirax targetting. Postmodern literature means rules take a back seat, but I'll always be able to provide some extra crunch if things naturally occur. Don't forget your "quil" pen. :)

I was actually looking forward to interacting with new PC's especially after the current battle ends.....

If some pass through and disappear, that would possibly seem "normal" given the surreal nature of the game thread itself.

I was hoping to talk with Quil at some point.

Did we lose more people?

Not enough people. For real remove me from the game.

A little rough... Gonna take me a minute to get a point of reference?

That is fair, perhaps our good DM might give a post that is more about clarity, so we have that point of reference?

I have seen someone do something similar in PBP games, having both a "Storyteller" and a "referee" to make things more clear for those in the game, allowing for better game play.

The referee giving the opponents and distances, and all that sort of clear information needed to make "moves"......

For example, say I change my weapon to ranged, after retreating over the course of two rounds, I may be assuming that I am 120 away at the end, so I change to longbow, however I may be making a "bad" assumption, and suddenly have to deal with AoO's for firing a bow (because the creatures were coming with me all along)....

This could also be a basic ASCII map....

Looking like it's just Aranea and Jack in the game right now, I can either move forward with the game with Aranea posting or we can put it on pause and hope more players show up. What Jack suggested is also an option. If you would like to fill that role, Jack, then we can really fly by the seat of our pants. Seems like the style of my game is a little arcane for you guys, but I'm open to suggestions. Right now everyone's trying to get to Highwall with the goal of delivering the magic items you acquired and several of the magic-sniffers are still unaware of who you guys are. That is subject to change, of course, based on your actions.

I can try to put something up that offers some clarity, and you can certainly edit it to make sure it is accurate.

Probably something really basic that just tries to give the general lay of things.
Let me think about it...
  |A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|
01| | | | |D| | | | | | | |
02| | | |F| | | | |J| | | |
03| | | | |A| | | | | | | |
04| | |D| | | | | | | | | |
05| | | | | | | | | | | | |
Key
A=Aeanea
J=Jack

F=Fell
D=Devil Dogs
This message was last edited by the player at 18:10, Sun 07 Apr.

That looks good, reminds me of doing sudokus and other various number puzzles. Ultimately there is a spatial representation but it is also 3d. So the positions of everyone can be understood as mostly melee and ranged in opposition to each other, with multiple attacks going in several directions at once. Thus there is the relatively flat terrain that resides in the Badlands, the long-ago plains that seem to stretch into infinity as a grid. Basically how I envisioned it was movement speed allows you to numeritize the stats in question, furthering the general feel of PCs as ronin. Thanks for making the grid, Jack. Is there anything else that sits between touch attacks, flat-footedness, ranged and melee in general, and spells that make for an understandable system? To me, there is the notion that combat exists in the divine realm as well, almost scripting the outcomes of battles in the sense of engorging themselves with a stylus of the written word. In other words the priestly caste levels accusations upon you for combat (priests are generally laity of the smaller villages) but there is the need to defend yourself inherent to the design of the world. Truth is, nobody really knows what the gods are doing apart from waging subtle war, and the ultimate defense of the realm requires the cosmos as grid. Several itemizations of space and time delimit just how ripe for the taking are the characters whose magic is being held in check by the rules of the cosmos.

I'm not sure that helped me understand but it won't stop me from trying to play.

Dude!

GM Menu -> Player Management -> Remove Player -> Me

I don't want to see your updates.

Basically I don't like using grid; that just helped me to elucidate that point, albeit convolutedly. Essentially the combats are supposed to be special since they occur less often than in High Fantasy settings. When they do occur there is the element of "primal" encounters, with often confusing events tethered to larger-scale endeavors. So it's like the orcs in, what was it, Morgul Vale, in which alerting the enemy leads to bigger problems. The modern analog would be avoiding the police in GTA. So combats are furious but alert you as to what is bigger than them. So the primal nature of your current encounter means you
ll be able to connect to other villages (primal hideaways) in your dreams and so forth, some kind of beam from the gods.

Can you give me a more elaborate way of addressing your concerns? The point of reference in this case is the library, the route, and the current watchtower are getting your feet wet trying to attune yourself to the needs of the populace, helping people who are otherwise helpless. The gods select traits in you that will improve once you assist the helpless. Otherwise the conflict between races surges onward, leaving little room for unnatural occurences but when they do occur they are symbolic. So the power of the gods is different from the magical fabric, as they exploit it, but their inner workings depict a sorry state of affairs in which people (the party) can gain power as burgher-esque thorns in the pursuit of the gods' shoring up their power.

If my character should not have much idea of what people need and what is/could be going on in the larger picture then I am right where I should be...

If there is supposed to be knowledge given to frame slight meta-knowledge to direct player choices for characters then I have not been able to organize that.

That's all.

I have been seeing the game as very surreal or dreamlike in how things go...

especially the badlands that we are currently in, things tend to normalize in other places, in town or the store we were at.  Perhaps it is a very chaotic aligned area....

I am trying to also catch all the information that our DM gives us along the way....


The phylactery and taking it somewhere to destroy it is good to know.

I do have a question on the martial arts hand wraps that was posted, how do those function and where do they come from, what are those stats?  Would they work on someone with say 8 appendages?

This is where the instructions appear to destroy the creature....

"The song of the fire giants echoes in the ears of the lich as it deigns to fire off the last little bit of life force it has. Do recall, that if its phylactery is not brought to a pround, a type of magic item dealer similar to a blacksmith, then there are consequences. Generally prounds will submerge the phylactery in acid to force the lich into dissolution and the singular Highwall pround that you recall reading from your time spent at the library yields a certain amount of satisfaction that the lich will not respawn, this time in the tower. "If you bring the tower down, they will emerge from their graves." Such spoke one of the thin lines of memory that bandy about in your mind prior to feeling the last little bit of chills from the cloaked dweller."

I am thinking of this in some Harry Potter destroy the horcrux way.....I feel like if we do the one thing we know to do we can get to the next thing.......
Song in my head: Genesis : Land of Confusion



I also have our prime directive saved....I can repost if it would be helpful for us.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:55, Fri 12 Apr.

Welcome Mongo to the group, not sure what his specifications are for his character, but he's working on rolling. Long be it that I can post a bump, it was around the time of my last post several days ago. But destroying the horcrux is a good idea; either you'd fall privy to the power it gave and be corrupted or destroy it once and for all, classic fantasy tropes in a wicked world.

What else would you guys like to see in the game? This includes Mongo, but it seems if we don't get a bunch of players we can start building more momentum. I'm curious as to which casual combats will reign supreme and which supreme combats will become casual.

Sorry I didn't post 'til now; we can complement our pace compared to a general feeling of "casualness," until you face the big baddies. Who knows why the gods assisted you if you're attempting to destroy them (up to you what long-term bennie-type stuff you're going for, but keep in mind it's a gold economy and not value points, with medieval cities bearing the crux of the monied canton).

Since combat has cleared, you're able to determine fully your next steps.

Hello all. I'm bringing in a Goliath Warblade.

 Now, is there a preferred type of character sheet?

And will the character sheet space in character Details be opened up, or do I keep track of the character in a PM?

With a level of 6 (5 +1LA) what amount of money do I have for equipment?
This message was last edited by the player at 05:43, Sat 13 Apr.

According to my notes
3K (3 thousand for standard gear)

10K (10 thousand for magical gear)

My character sheet is in my description (so you can see the whole thing)

Holy hell. How'd you manage so many 20+ stats at level 6?

I checked the dice roller and used these instructions or parameters
It has been a while so I do not recall where those came from....

5d6, dropping the 2 lowest rolls and rerolling ones

Several of the past people also used that methodology, (if you look at the dice roller, you can see any results that were not made as secret rolls)...

Huh.

I used what it said in character creation.

Roll 4d6, drop lowest die. No re-rolls of 1s either.

Guess GM Thought that original method was too nice, and changed it after first PCs were made.

In March 2023 it was Roll 5d6, drop lowest 2.


In August 2023 it was Roll 4d6, drop lowest 1.

Yeah, definitely made a xhange

Oh wow I think we should all have the same method especially for something as important as ability scores...

Hopefully the DM will offer some guidance for you to roll them in a better way.

Maybe this is one reason why some of the newer folks have left?
This message was last edited by the player at 22:17, Sat 13 Apr.

Going forward, Mongo will be a fellow melee to Jack and his starting point will be relevant seeing as there's only buggy travel and horses for riding. Obviously the game doesn't exceed fantasy travel capabilities, until you start teleporting, but largely those spells will be on different planes entirely, which is like the sefirot in which Midnight is the battleground between greek and dark gods.

Several mentionings of the relevant stuff mean that the powers that be in the world (and they do mention people like you in the annals) are trying to maintain power prerogatives to the max. You'll be some of the most powerful people in the world but still prone to die at a mere dagger. Gotta consult the elves, who have the most healing herbs available, and be good at persuasion to get them to help you. Herbs are the magic of the realm, largely. Quotidian pursuits involve a lot of travel, naturally, and you'll want to use your skills to keep things very secret but patrolling occurs often.

GM just told me 1k for standard gear
10k for magical gear.

It's sad when a 5th level fighter cannot buy plate armor (1500 gold). Is plate armor too high tech for the setting?

HP roll every level?

I am reading the IC post as I am being overwhelmed by some sort of sleep effect....Is that accurate, and is there a save?
I posted as if I understood it.



I do not recall what we did on the hit points, seems to be maxed.


Why can you not have good armor?
Maybe a nice armor from the Magic Item Compendium?
This message was last edited by the player at 14:22, Sun 14 Apr.

Plate armor is 1500, unless I can make it myself (1/3 cost). If building equipment is an option I generally go with Mithril breastplate (1400 gold for materials cost) which doesn't slow me down and still gives me medium armor protection. As a low Dex individual I need to rely on armor for protection rather than agility.

Wow, if HP is max, that'll give me 75 HP.

Mitheral Breastplate sounds like a "solid" option.

That would take about half your mundane gear funds, ....

In reply to Jack Springhill (msg # 176):

I think it is more of "the action is giving way to a sleepy kind of afternoon" rather than "you all failed perception, and will saves"

I tried to leave it open to any interpretation....

Hmmm. Are we allowed Items of Fame like in War of the Lance?

I would think nearly anything is allowed, the intro thread's first post, has this bolded line at the bottom of it:

D&D supplements all permitted in 3.5. Freeform fantasy with a high magic milieu.


I am reading that as anything officially D&D 3.5....

Very cool

What's the rule on LA buyoffs?

I think it's going to stress more the freeform then the sighted rules editions.

Mongo, if you want to go with 3000 gp, that's fine. Crafting is as I PMed you, I haven't checked those yet. LA is significant as Aranea seems to have a veritable metric tonne of attacks, but I guess that's just in spider mode, kind of like Dr. Jekyl. Or is it Mr. Hyde? Honestly I'd have to revisit them. Pincerwise there's good room for good roleplay as Aranea can get taken off guard, especially if being a spider invites some rude stares.

Sight-wise the gods are ever-present but power nexuses are ways to change their magic or shut them down.

Not sure if Aranea is with me on the gondola ride or not.....Looking forward to meeting Mongo.

Hey boss, I asked several weeks ago to be removed, I'm sorry, but please REMOVE me from the game. I can't understand or relate to it. Thanks you.

Okay. Got my 10k magic figured out. Bought weapons and armor, and all my MW Tools and kits, and that spent about 1825 of my mundane costs. Regular exploration gear ought to make up no more than 100 gold cost. Any thoughts on where to spend my remaining 1000 gold? I can't see Mongo as a Rider of anything smaller than a rhino, so heavy horse is out. Alchemical tools, maybe? Or store it as gems and coins?

A few possibilities from the Magic Item compendium

Everfull mug for 200 gold
Everlasting rations 350 gold
Magic bedroll 500 gold
Watch lamp 500 gold
safewing emblem 250 gold
piercer cloak 900 gold
spool of endless rope

Problem. Those are all 'magic'. Don't think I can spend the 3000 gold on Magic items.

Better plan save the 1000 and give it to me so I can upgrade my armor to mistmitheral!!!!

Actually I am not sure how "treasure" works in this game yet, kind of hoping that destroying the lich phylactery (aka the horcrux) results in a nice gem to sell for cash, or collect a bounty.....


Check the thread "Shax's Indespensible haversack" which if I recall suggests a whole list of alchemy items....
This message was last edited by the player at 00:36, Thu 18 Apr.

Mundane items run the gamut as far as all manner of ways to interact with the environment. Basically I'll reiterate that magic is kind of explosive within PCs because you guys have access to the entire 3.5 corpus, and it's more important to shell out the completeness than to be thematically accurate. It all seems a little convoluted...

In the coming days I'll post a couple of items that can round out the fully-equipped adventurer without recourse to super powerful spells. Maybe if the gods go, then the world would be enriched. Or was that the climber Izrador who defailled his power nexi and split up the world into tiny tribes. The people of the shores of Pelluria greet Mongo. The character looks really good, any more questions? How would you like to be introduced into the game, or would you prefer to leave it up to me?

I'll move the IC thread forward once we figure out Mongo. Plus it's been a long day. Soon the world gets bigger and yet smaller.

I think I'll let you handle how I'm introduced. Don't have a handle yet on the world save that it is high Fantasy(whatever that means). Or is it like a Fantasy world on acid?

As for Mongo, the only reason he became a warblade was that he lost a bet with a dwarf after a long night of drinking. Now he's trying to learn enough for a rematch (wounded pride can be a terrible thing).

Glad to see Mongo is ready to join, I assume we could stop to pick him up from an isle or maybe meet him when we dock....

High Fantasy world on acid is exactly how I play this game, in I assume Jack finds most things as surreal and dream-like and he is doing his best to navigate, and survive based on the realm of origin that he has....

I am looking forward to seeing the updates for the game.

Another long day so I'll post tomorrow, sorry for the delay.

I am enjoying my chat with Aranea on the boat ride!

Planning to introduce Mongo in the IC thread, the only hiccup being that some players didn't like how I introduced them, thinking the style was too psychedelic. Then again, offering a ride on the wind of the gods could be perceived any way. I imagine this section as kind of like Zelda: Wind Waker in which you're on a big map but there are obviously regions in which you're able to treat yourself to what bare-bones stuff any given villages have. Until you end up in a big city and the monsters start raining down. Charts are less common because Erethor only features a pretty limited amount of lakes and seas, but some day you might venture to the land beyond the shores. But paper is manufactured en plus, seeing as it is pretty cheap and writing is not a forbidden activity, though scrolls become more coveted as they are a relatively simple way to channel the Greek gods' power, with multiplicities of dyed paper being common. "Floating factories" (the fantasy version, bony-hulled frigates) are common in the sense of bringing marine animals up for consumption and for tallow for lamps and candles. The Sea of Pelluria is one of the main places where people transport marine material for usage by both Shadow and resistance groups.

Quick question.

Is Mongo boosted into the sky?

Incarnated on the ferry by the dreams of the other two?


His soul trapped in the sextant, with his body to be found later?


Any of these three might be true from my reading of that passage.

This begs a further question. Is Mongo awake, or insensate? Or simply weirded out by the surrealism?

Or he may still be drunk ....

I was not sure, either hoping to get clarity from the DM about exactly what is going on with you.

Incarnate literally means "embodied in flesh", so one assumption could very well be you are now on the boat....
The other part is that perhaps the magic that summoned you gained direction from our subconscious that sought what we both thought we needed, like a wish without words......

Greetings...

... And salutations

Aranea is taking the bull by the horns and directly talking to Mongo.....So assuming you are now present.

Basically I was aiming for a way to shift focus away from the gods by having the appearance of Mongo be like a refresh of the daily spells. The gods are able to use magic coveted by the populace but are ever on the move. It's like the sorting hat from Harry Potter, but in this case, the hallucinations of Jack and Aranea came onto the gods' map and he was incarnated from beyond the veil in the material world. Inordinate amounts of magic come from such an appearance and Mongo's beefy self was marked by Ares who Mongo can recall had a special mark, the mark of the Shackleborn. This is like a ranger's spells pertaining to his animal companion, the mark can be detected by animals since they are ever on the sniff-hunt for magic. Ares in this instance is a giant red god whose mental connection to you, Mongo, encouraged you to pursue the mark, which looks like a natural sign in musical notation. If you see it, you will be atuned with Ares especially as larger groups clash, with the precipitated war being the defining feature of the overseas passage to Erethor.

So perhaps let me know what your characters' relationship is to the gods, who seek spiritual vassals throughout the world but still cannot locate Izrador. This is mutually exclusive as Izrador cannot locate the gods either. Ares encouraged you to sacrifice libations salubrious upon the merchant shores of Highwall. The river El continues to wend its way around its many waterfalls, and rumor has it there is an underdark (legendary) that is made of some kind of magic glass, peopled with drow.

A natural sign? Sheeesh its been about 45 years since I last read sheet music so you'll forgive me if I've forgotten what it looks like. So Mongo has a tattoo of sorts that is called the Mark of the Shackleborn? It is given to him by Ares and provides a magical connection of some sort?



Erathor is a continent? But what is an Izrador?

This is another thing to research and ask locals about.  I have many many questions, and hoping to answer them in the context of my journal, which can be open source for everyone, since lots of assumptions are out the window, in this strange land....

Stranger in a strange land!  Great book!

Jack's Journal
I found myself in a very strange land, appearing in the midst of a battle, afterwards I found the place I was was known as Cauldron, a city set in the bowl of a volcano, others were part of the team in fighting, and people appeared to help and also disappeared,

In the aftermath of the battle, I had a few companions and we went to Skies Treasury a lady with fine taste in some rare and curious items.


Party instructions, were also not super clear for the main mission:

"the power nexus in the south needs to be activated, and to achieve this, the party must load up on goods from Highwall. From Highwall to the power nexus which sits outside the outpost of Caulderin. The current combat sits astride the unnamed outpost where bandits thrive. Astiraxes and blink dogs roam at night here, when the undead rise from their graves and plague the earth as though the Argonauts have swept through leaving skeletons in their wake. The blighted earth of the Fell slows your mind slightly as you traverse with faerie fire dotting all that you can see, barrenness and desolation of great import.

Progress saw the goods sloughed off on Highwall and the magic items here were a lucky find, the current encounter the result; Highwall had flown under the radar but is now leveraged at night with a swarm of bodiless feeding astirax, which toy with the mind like Trapped between their own state and that of mortal ken. Bottling an astirax form is an option. The obsidian glass from the fire giant jettisoned you (in a manner of speaking) from Skie's Treasury toward the power nexus. Be warned that you may have to run away at breakneck speeds and might want to use conducive spells or items, assuming you have any. Astirax generally means legates will be using powerful magic that is rare to most adventurers.

The blighted southern Eredane awaits and you hear rumors of the elves in-fighting but to travserse the paths toward the elven forests is dangerous, most keenly aware not to leave fires going or use light-based magic unless hidden. Several groups of similar ken you will find meandering the shoddy roads, but if you go to the elves, several of their craft (of gnomish make) will sluice towards the raiding parties, riddling them with arrows, as per the legend."

We were attacked by Fell bipedal creatures and a pack of four legged monsters, again during this battle others came into and out of the reality, perhaps it is a dream like place, and a coma locks me here as they are only here for the brief moment of deepest slumber; or this is some afterlife or limbo.  After this battle I obtained a lich phylactery, somehow I knew or sensed it needs to be taken to a pround in High wall, to be destroyed otherwise at some point the lich reforms....
(Is this the realm of dream and can it be nightmares that have a way to be destroyed as well?)

At the edge of some water, we met The ferryman Greenham, and sailed onto the waters, while lights played in the sky....
Obtained a sextant, need to learn profession navigation in order to use it, and understand what it does.
-uncertain if the sextant had anything to do with Mongo showing up?
Asked How to summon the ferryman in the future, and the payment required a shard of posiden

Okay. Terms are unfamiliar. Pround? Legates? Astirax? And Elves riding on landships (sluicing indicates water travel) that they pepper folks with arrows from?

Exactly!  Jack finds the world perplexing as well, often leading to more questions....Hopefully how to summon/pay the ferryman is one I feel like he should answer....
From my understanding a Pround uses acid and brute force to destroy the phylactory,
...like a horcrux in Harry Potter, needs something specific to destroy it.

A pround is a person?

I could probably destroy one. I have a method of bypassing all Hardness and DR and delivering a heavy bludgeoning blow.

I feel like the more people asking questions the better....
Yes my understanding is a pround is a person (though it could be a machine of some sort)....

I am willing to let you try to destroy the thing.....

I am using the scratch pad for my journal information and editing it as time goes on...I would designate days, but not really sure I feel like I have been in this place for about a week....
This message was last edited by the player at 18:57, Fri 26 Apr.

Will post something of weight tomorrow, been a long couple of days.

Jack, the thread for your journaling sounds like a choice idea, I'll implement it.

Jacks Journal is going to go live!  Exciting!

For fans of the American version of The Office....
Creed thoughts!

The distant view that you had of Cauldron set off the volcano such that several key channels were overcome with magma. The gods, having sensed this, felt their bellies quake. Their forms would come to dominate the landscape, not just in creation myths, but in living and breathing reality. The magic of Zeus cascaded around the continent, striking up flares in several cities, but this escaped the attentions of you petty mortals. And yet you remain tethered to the gods and Izrador, maintaining a sacred balance. Your arrival in Highwall, with several thousand residents, divides the black realm from the colorful realm, and the city seems to sparkle with the beasts of burden having their backs broken in shipments across the continent. It is clear whether a creature is good or evil, in other words, light or shadow. Light creatures seem to glow with an iridescence with Detect Evil spells, whereas the darkness thrives with a solid attachment to chaos.

I think I get it. This place is extra planar with a reactive environment. It's why we would see the influences of Earthquake or Melf's Acid Arrow even though we have no training in SpellCraft .

I have posted, trying to move the game forward....

Hoping to level someday kill some monsters, (destroy the lich thing and get some XP!!!)
Complete mission, and get some more!

The lich isn't dead? But you have its phylactery.

My understanding is we have to destroy it before the lich reforms.....

mongo's hypothesis is now in my journal



I wonder how I will show up in this city of good and evil?
Jack is TN....
This message was last edited by the player at 22:36, Tue 30 Apr.

Ferryman mentioned wogren and astirax. What are they? The symbol on my arm matches that on some of the rangers. What does it signify? The glass is special to this plane. Can it be used as a planar touchstone? And Greek and Egyptian Gods are tied to this Plane. What does this signify? What are the Shackleborn?

 Any other questions we need answered?
This message was last edited by the player at 05:53, Wed 01 May.

I feel like an appendix of definitions might be a part of my journal eventually......

I think one of the posts stated that the symbol on Mongo marks him as one of the Shackleborn. Which raises the question Shackled , why? And for what purpose? I think we need to know this. Is it part of a prophecy?

Pretty sure a lot of the background is
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/..._City_Adventure_Path

With a whole lot of other stuff and world flavor thrown in....

So it's World of Greyhawk, not an extra dimensional place? With astral wogren and astarix flitting about? And odd glass, which might just be obsidian, given the volcano

If I am not mistaken the world the AP is set in is not the place we are currently.....

I have directly inquired of the DM to help sort some of this out between what we know/do not know.
To start establishing this world's frame of reference.


see my journal for specifics...
This message was last edited by the player at 15:46, Thu 02 May.

What is Izrador?

Is the glass mentioned Volcanic Glass or Obsidian?

That’d be an oppressive god of darkness, opposing the Greek pantheon. There seems to be a feudal kind of thing among the Greek gods and then the dark one… who is in a conflict with the whole of them; to the best of my knowledge.

Jacks journal updated....

We can assume that wogren and astirax are high fantasy and Midnight, respectively. Wogren are wolf-like beasts, I believe they were called that in LotR. Or maybe it was worgen or worgs, hard to recall. Astirax I have done up as clouds sort of like nano clouds but obviously a fantasy version, I just think they look like nano clouds because they are almost infinitely spinning, but they are black and brown paper mache type things that spin in circles having arranged their forms in space with ever so much audacity.

The Shackleborn mark will become more apparent in meaning as you go on, you may want to inquire in the city, perhaps someone from Highwall will be especially attuned to the Knowledge. The gods and Izrador (Izrador being the dark god who keeps magic out of people's hands, and though the greek gods are trying to destroy him, their elite is the only group that can utilize magic items with any frequency).

All a maelstrom of high and low fantasy, with the world of the greek gods and Izrador being superimposed.

The glass is obsidian-esque but it is taboo to certain people, seen as too alien.

Thanks that clears up a lot.

Do we need to declare magic items for some reason?

One thing the rangers will notice is that all of Mongo's weapons are Ogre sized and MW. And that his armor is so well made that it has a 0 ACP.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:05, Sat 04 May.

Well that does bring up a moving forward issue for Jack....next level

Chameleon class has both arcane and divine focus that can be adopted, (later on both simultaneously)
but due to the  nature of the game world the class does list an option to replicate all those magics via potions/powders/technology, rather than actual magic......It seems a little open ended and not very detailed as far as nuts and bolts.....

"Adaptation
Chameleons can be reworked as a completely nonmagical class, where they have no spells but use Sleight of Hand to make items "disappear," and potions or powders to create smoke, fog, and fire. They could be made completely magical as well or even psionic, using spells or psionics to actually gain the abilities of other classes. If you're using the EBERRON Campaign Setting, the chameleon prestige class should be available to changeling player characters as well as humans and doppelgangers. In this case, the Able Learner feat extends to changelings as well."


Perhaps like cogline and his study of the old sciences from the Shannara series???
This message was last edited by the player at 13:34, Sat 04 May.

Jack are you saying you want to be the non-magic version of the class?

I think the adaptation annotation is there to offer that the class shouldn’t be thrown out due to setting dependency. ‘Whatever special effect the GM wants to use’ is good, kind of deal.

I am not saying that.  I  am  saying I need to consult the DM to see if the normal class is going to work as expected.

Oh, I think there is an extra Freeform element to this game that will make it not matter too much. Just my impressions though.

I am still updating my journal
Creatures and Locations

Cool!  Looking forward that hopefully a library can fill most of my knowledge gaps, including the Greek gods pantheon

Bottle:

Carved from obsidian, hewed and halled by dwarves, the bottle works like a way to transport dangerous and potentially toxic fluids, hefting it takes considerable strength and can be charged up at a power nexus. In Cauldron, the central lake was considered a power nexus and your reasons for leaving it behind can be chocked up to power seeping from the divine realms into the ranger's scimitar +1. Jack successfully hides the bottle from him but for some reason the sword seems to temporarily, as though through illusion, vacillate in and out of the visible world. Maybe it's a planar juncture, and they occur when important adventurers spread their seed, as it were, with horses (specifically chargers) huddled against the cold and breath recalling lich's frost from your last encounter. The scimitar has a companion on his other side, but much to the strain of your supernatural eyes, the dusk masks the other blade, suggesting it could be important. At the mention of the Tithe and a beer, the glowing fists of the other rangers suggest they have levels in monk, which is especially potent, seeing as creatures of cold (it is pretty cold here on the lake, see: Chicago) are vulnerable to the holy fire of monks, but also that weapons are hard to come by. So if yours get broken, you can always blame rending on those rogue elves who betrayed their kind.

The grey-eyed attendant at the gate taps his foot impatiently, suggesting boredom. His aloofness also suggests that he is not paying enough attention, or he would have seen the monk's fist dropping a few coins in the cart ritualistically. They rattle around, maybe causing the guard to look the other way from the scimitar. The rapier you have in the cart alongside the other items must be some kind of magic trick by either the monks or the Ferryman, and inspected by the timid guard, they glow red, drawing your eyes from it to the central brazier of the plaza. Ambient town noise reaches your ears, and the grunts of approval from the rangers (now multiclassed with monks, two of the three) means the beer will be highly savoured. The drawbridge is dropped behind you and the one hundred thousand-worth coin that glows the brightest, Icarus, Brett, and Katherine, light the town's central brazier which reserves a charge for you to summon a fire elemental if needed, Summon Monster IV, CL 13. The fire is passably warm, and several itinerants in the village come to warm their hands, looking severe and drawn.

"We are the Striders of Farlaghn, Highwall branch (are they the same as before?) and seek to protect this town against the shadow. If we can successfully hide," and they say this muffling their voices severely, "then we can spring upon them in this holy place." He eyes a cleric who warms his hands and drops holy water on the fire. "Supposedly that stuff is from the lake of Cauldron, Olympos that it is. And we normally don't recommend beer but this variety only warms you up, doesn't get you drunk. It might even be the cleric who made it. "Eh, sir?" He casts a glance at the cleric who smiles wanly.

Quote posted the DM; the post above into the game thread....

What is a power nexus? Is it common knowledge, or was the info implanted in my brain when I was transported here?

I  have been assuming it is something obvious like  a crystal with lighting bolts coming out of it, or a big humming hot box with massive cables, or a Stonehenge, or a huge ferris wheel in the center of the flat area......

There is very limited info in my journal under the  original mission details.

Who are Icarus, Brett and Katherine?


What shadow are they talking about?


Is it okay to admit to them that I have no idea what they are talking about?

Not sure who the three names, part of the pantheon or heralds/messengers of the gods?


I was saving the I am clueless newcomer Convo for the future tavern/library/pround, rather than the guard station....

Assuming I will get more info from the pround and library.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:35, Thu 09 May.

Just moving us forward if possible.....

Will post in the next few days, have had a full plate.

Cool beans....

Will post tomorrow. In the meantime, any questions or concerns?

You mean in character or OOC?

If in character I assume we will get some good information soon at the library and or the bar....
I think my questions are laid out fairly well in my journal and other people have chimed in with questions...

Power nexuses are kind of like cell towers, they are dying and decaying metallic installations (and steel is pretty rare, most weapons are corrugated iron) somewhat resembling watchtowers. They look like claws planted in the earth and radiate with blue light.

Icarus, Brett, and Katherine are the rangers and monks, you believe they are somewhat green but still wielding and hefting a certain clout and power. They are the Striders of Farlaghn, whose dealings might become more clear over a beer. They seem good-intentioned but you might wanted to remain guarded lest the shadow trick you. The shadow is the military arm of the dark god Izrador whose aims are somewhat ambiguous and he may at some point become your friend depending on how corrupt the party ends up being, but with a lack of true good and evil, as I said, sometimes the bad guys are supposed to win.

Mongo's weapons are steel, silver and Cold Iron. Will this be a problem?

Mongo...I do not think so, my weapons are metal and my shirt is mitheral no one has said anything.



Power Nexus- added to my journal

as is this:
"Striders of Farlaghn
A new good intentioned organization: Some power
Location: Highwall and ?
Known members: Icarus, Brett, and Katherine: Ranger and monks
They may be infiltrated by "The shadow" (military arm of the dark god Izrador)"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:17, Sat 18 May.

My character spins enchanted silk and has 7 natural melee attacks. Should be alright to have some specific weapons good against specific creatures. Race DOES eat up all my initial levels though.

I am hoping to level at some point, though PBP (play by post) does tend to take a good while.

In reply to Aranea (msg # 252):

Must be one hell of a lot of advantages to be worth +6 LA

Only ones I found that high were
Ogre Mage
Rakshasa

Yeah, I pulled from savage species to turn the species into a class that completes the monster so she isn’t even an adult by their standards because it had to be broken down to smaller pieces. She owes another level or two to grow into the full measure of her species. Then she can start growing beyond them.

She can’t change form as much, doesn’t have quite the magic, can’t web as often and has a few stat points left to gain.

No worries, hopefully we keep moving forward.

Is my journal a useful tool or is it just getting too cluttered?

It might make sense for anything journal worthy to be posted here first and then I can edit it into only having my "entries" rather than other commentary, if that makes sense.

Locations
Creatures
Deities
Organizations
Definitions


Blocks of Information

If it is kept to mostly bullet points, that will help keep organized and the least amount of text on a subject while still defining/describing them adequately will allow new folks to benefit from what we have discovered- or let the DM correct things.

Going to try and keep things organized and clean to the best of my ability....

the times of Aryth
Is this a time under this old god before the coming of the dark entity?





Erenland entered into journal...

Is the glassworks in High wall?
glassworks is also still burning and the gimmicks they make seem to have a connection to some kind of dreamcatching.

So these are items of contested ownership, between Highwall and Erenland?
The scythe of Jil and the return of the mad Splintershield are like a trademark, sorting through the petty trade as though the whole world had taken notice.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:06, Mon 27 May.

Arghh. More than half of that last post makes no sense. Izrador and Aryth are personages of some sort but no one will explain them since the info relating to them is NOT coming from people present at the tavern. It is presented like someone ASSUMING WE KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT.
The messenger makes a hand motion and Sleeps one of the Striders? No Sleep spell I've ever heard of can affect level 10+, and the Striders are around level 16. Given the casual tone that Icarus is speaking in I assume this is a prank of some sort between old comrades?

The tithe is spread out on the floor? Did someone attempt to take my weapons from me? There would have been an altercation in that case, level 16 characters or not.

I think the tithe is something Icarus is suggesting we can take as a job, load those given things onto the wagon, setting up the next step after the power Nexus-, and the pround.

And thats another thing. I asked a Strider what a pround was and was ignored. More assumptions?

Yes I saw that happened you did indeed directly ask what a pround is...

I’m thinking it is something in the venue of scholar-wizard-artificer who studies magic objects. It might also be kind of museum curator. This is all inferred.

A specialist in destroying phylacerys

Ultimately I'm trying to maximize the seeds, the ones I can think of being glassworks, carts going in and out of the city, super-powerful magic forcing itself into tight spaces, magical arms transports, fire and water as elements, and so forth.

Aryth is the continent that includes Erethor, the present landmass. The Sarcosans are the race from across the seas that dominated the Dorns, who resided as Native Americans. The Erenlanders are a mixture of Dornishn and Sarcosan blood and are a bit more open and forgiving than their forebears. Level 16 is an estimate based on the power vacuum that comes from different groups of units split based on their power level. So you can never know which is more important, the group or the specific monster. Hence the estimation of CR or EL which get conflated. So level 16 is meant to build tension, like these guys are the best in the region or whatever, suggestive of group dynamics exceeding some of the best of the selective pressures going on, especially since they are rangers. It's a hunt of Mother Earth but in this case she's known as the Blood Mother, served by orcs.

The cart going into the city is goofy, as it just appeared. But it's the working of the gods which remains muddled, and yet very powerful. You never know when some reverse-engineering is going to careen the magic item transport, causing it to erupt as a volcano in the well of the city, frightening all the locals like another Pompeii. Such volcano treatment pertains to Magma Avenue of Cauldron, as well as the Wands of Control Water. They are hidden deep in the space that functions as the space in the cart. All this relies on divvying up the means of transportation, which tend to be bone steeds in the case of the Shadow. Lava Avenue pushes its way into public consciousness, being the inner city in which everyone's struggling to obtain the Wands of Control Water with which to purify themselves in the case of an eruption.

The pround is a functionary devolved from the aberrations of just beyond, being the huddled candlemaker who thrusts his shifty practices on other people, forcing them to evolve into a gold piece, in some instances. His goal is to drain the power of the nexuses as though they are oil wells, and coordinates serf space with the Shadow in a manner exceeding but not equal to their demesne. The villages sit on a charter from the Miraleen, sort of the Denmark of the Midnight world in which soflyetes manage currency transfers, generally between larger villages. He is going to show up later than the tithe-collectors so watch out when he tries to raze the city after a missed opportunity.

It probably helps that I am familiar with the shackled city adventure path.

During the rainy season Cauldron floods and the wands of control water are used to lower the flooding of the central lake, so that the city does not sink below the surface.  The wands were created for this purpose.


It is going to take some time to get a grasp on what this all means...

I hope it helps, but I am feeling entirely lost at this juncture

Alright so the pround seems to not only be a person who can destroy an object like the lich phylactery, but also traffics in dark magic, and siphons magic from the power Nexus- to his own ends, so perhaps he can do more than destroy things
he can also make magic items?

Thought I had posted last night in a semi conscious state. What Seeds are the GM referring to?


Lava Road = Magma Road???


The cart was provided by the Gods and contains an extra dimensional space wherein is hidden the Wands of Water control?

A lot is written about Power Nexi. Is that the main concern of all the denizons of note?

Perhaps it is the nature of a “more dark lord aligned” area that the local pround traffics dark magic?

Yeah I have been leery of this place when that talk about tithing and wondering if part of the tithe is culling the herd, in other words human sacrifices, so I would prefer to be gone before that, it seems like getting the information to see the pround and a library, might catch us up to speed...

Mongo do you need us to help figure something out for you to be able to post?

Somewhat. Everything I say is leading to more confusion. So maybe silence is the best way to move forward.

The plot does develop a bit… fractally. I am going to try to play along, three people have dropped in my time here for not being able to keep up. Lost in the sauce!

I have been embracing it as the "stranger in a strange land" as it were, and anything that does not make sense, I try to understand....

Thus the Jack's Journal thread.....

What is meant by 'the man with the Stone's belly is widening'?
Stone is capitalized like it represents a named Stone. Belly is widening? Has he overindulged, or is this like Mr Creosote from Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, indicating he is about to explode?

The scythe of Jil and the Splinter shield are like a trademark? A trademark for who or what?

Is our GM someone for whom English is a second language? That might explain the differing format of ideas and concepts.

I am pretty sure (again based on my knowledge of the Shackled City adventure path)....

Jil's scythe, if I am not mistaken Jil is a member of a thieves (assassins) guild.

Splintershield is a dwarven family


In this sense trademark might be better described as a sign/symbol associated with.

Jil showed up in passing not too long ago in one of the initial posts. She was there when the fire giant outmatched his competition with the other creatures rearing their ugly heads from the void. Jil is a sinusoid creature, flitting in and out of her harlequin demeanor, black hair generally tied up in a pony tail, which swishes and unmakes itself as she jumps from roof to roof. Her visage is such that her sleek form is imposing like a Janus tethered to a mortal body. Her scythe should indicate a similarity to the Shackleborn mark, which comes in different forms based on the racial stock of the user. She has numerous jangles upon her arms and her travel throughout the realm is like a moebius strip. When she quaffs her potions of firelight, her skin shimmers with an affinity with Auran-touting celestials whose realm is split by the Sundering and form almost a rogues gallery with the gods, seraphim inducing their cooperation with the powers that be. The Sundering, innately tied to the Power Nexuses (which at 5000 feet cause decay on the Ioun Stones, which beat like grey hearts), sets up glacial change, which turns the hydroelectric wheels that bring sparks to the doors (most of the doors in major cities are surrounded by sparks). The scythe, which is sepia-toned like henna, stands out robustly on her arm, and the thieves' guild purportedly has Ioun Stones to sell, Jack's being one of the rarer ones.

The belly indicates a tear in the cosmos, which is ruptured like so much pus leaking from a wound, a belly filled with arcane symbols, many people in dread Midnight positing a male-symbolic structure, with "pregnant" men causing collapsible magical phenomena, the belly being one of the main symbols of the people of Erenhead, which has a sister library and is the home of the pround visiting Highwall. The pallisades surrounding the city pierce the sky, literally, and te connections between the neighboring power nexi drain the earth of its oils by careening through space like a thrusting ruin. The Staff of Holding, which stuns for 3 rounds, is reportedly at one of the pround's personal libraries in Erenhead, and you are able to use cantrips to solicit a wave of light from the books, one of the sole unblemished natures seen in the World of Midnight. The flat terrain is brown and green, with swordgrass poking out, and one of the books you read at the last library was entitled Swordnestle. The sister library in Erenhead is dominated by texts that describe the wars of the past, with the fourth age flourishing and this is the calm before the storm which you are instigating. If you get one of Jil's bangles (she travels to Erenhead), you are able to bind the djinnis to a golden and vaporous form, and their search and spot skills allow their scrying to penetrate even the thickest magical masonry.

The question remains: do you join the Striders in fending off the Tithers and inculcating an invasion from a nearby town? (The beacons are made of shadow and divide the realm into pockets that are disconnected, so you wouldn't be facing an army). Stones blessed with light admonish users with spells of Perspicacity, somewhat like Legend Lore. These are hallucinatory and some postulate the stone masonry in the other villages and cities of this area are ancient magical extrapolations of these stones. Whether you join the hated pround or rebuff him and hold him complicit in the Tithe, he will be travelling to Erenhead anyway. This you have gleaned from magical tracks granted by a Djinni. In Erenhead the Last Laugh has a sister branch, and your introduction to the spellweavers (who have connections to the imbued stones) means their astirax forms will run the gamut. If the pround flees to the Mogren Moor on the Ardune, he will succeed in flooding Cauldron's tunnels with noxious water, poisoning the mushrooms growing there. You can stop him, according to the Rory's Telepathic Bond (limited by the Power Nexuses) of the Striders, by slaying him and his Trapped minions (astiraxy beasts) on the road from Erenhead to the Moor.

The striders seem to be something like good guys… so Aranea wouldn’t mind helping them. It seems like kidnapping the pround and sacking the tithers is a pretty good deal.

We could get the lich ending info at leisure though the stunning staff might be problematic especially if he has other magics and isn’t just a curator.

In reading the posts, I got no indication whatsoever that the Striders had the intention of robbing the tithers, let alone asking us if we wanted in.

What is a sinusoid creature? One coming from the nose, made of mucus?


Hydroelectric wheels? What level of technology is on display in this city? It's starting to sound like Arduin.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:36, Fri 07 June.

Still playing catch up on understanding exactly what is happening, though I am working it out....sorry if I have delayed posting in the meanwhile.

Been busy, I'll try to post tonight.

Gonna be too tired from French class so I'll post tomorrow night.

Is there anything specific you guys are looking for that I can change, especially mechanics-wise? I like the idea of using DM secret rolling for some things.

Oh I think just going back through and seeing about clarifying anything we are still confused about.

Sorry. NPC for now. In hospital.

Are you guys still interested? I was somewhat confiused by Mongo's PM, I guess you guys are forming another game?

Nope sorry. Other GM is setting up a Shackled City game and I needed a place to build the character since he Hasn't accepted my RTJ yet.

This game I am paused on while in hospital.

I am here and a little lost but not hopelessly lost. I’ll keep trying to play as I make any kind of sense out of things… and get a little more time to post.

I am, but yes we are a bit lost in the details or the "richness" of your  game world.


Perhaps we can do a lot of clearing things up while Mongo is in the hospital?


And then we can join in the battle in the  game thread?
This message was last edited by the player at 14:18, Sat 22 June.

What battle?

Oh I assumed something was about to happen when I saw the AC and hit points at the top of the post...apparently that is not what it is about.  Ignore me on that point, I am still clearly confused....

The idea behind it was that there was a disparate field that I would fill out with specific stats depending on what choices you guys made. So it was a wall, the Striders (whose stats you can look up, I'm assuming you guys have the sourcebooks?), and the tottering crowd who is operating in a sort of shroud, belying the town's specific makeup by being in the shadows like Strider from LotR. There are routes through magic pathways in the woodwork but the idea is that the wall, pouring with fire and water, is statted. It is a spawning ground for forces of the Shadow, bypassing the long haul out of doors. The stats all apply to the wall and were to impart on the creatures therein, but I can give you a more basic rundown. Keep in mind you guys are more experienced than I, or maybe I'll just make it less avant-garde.

Acid and Fire-breathing Pit Trap
You can see fire and acid breathing from the wall and you can see the spikes on the other side of the room. If there were a rogue in the party it would be DC 19 to Disable, not sure if you guys want to execute the relevant skills. Mechanical, and I will roll Saving Throws for you all. If you want to determine where it comes from and how to track down the source, being the grotto where these enemies are potentially from, you can roll Spot to see if you can sense the pround through the portal (they jumped you ahead of time, much to your dismay). Jack failed his Reflex Save, Mongo I don't have listed saves (think I mentioned this to Aranea before but she updated her sheet). She rolled a 24 Reflex Save so the trap doesn't trigger. Mongo I fudged a little and he too avoids the automaton gravity-type lure to the trap, in other words a manual reset because it's a material portal. It now appears as a giant gaping maw of a fire giant, which you feel could be lurking in the grotto under the employ of the pround. The area of the Tithe and the grotto are now linked, reseting the trap twists the two together in space.

OOC: Is this better? I'm trying to be accomodating and is Mongo still interested once RL is out of the way? The trap can be sold for 1800 GP, half the asking price to buy.

If you disarm the trap which is now moving, you are able to inveigh against the trenches of the Shadow, cheap undergound tunnelling as per Palestine, but with magic traps. The Striders must've spilled that you were coming, for they are now attacking you but may be Charmed. From your conversation you want to stop the Tithe but shoddy armor lays strewn in the trap, demise of former adventurers.

Update then. Mongo's saves are Fort +7 Ref +5 Will +3. However he can substitute a Concentration check (1d20+13) for a Will or Reflex saving throw. In addition, if he is caught by an effect that lasts for more than 1 round, he can throw off the effects with Martial concentration.


Also, you have made an incorrect assumption. Prior to joining this game, I knew nothing about Midnight. I know nothing about Shackled City. So all mentions of places or people from those sources need to be explained to me. I have no reference material
This message was last edited by the player at 21:04, Sun 23 June.

My apologies for the assumption. I have my own collection, which luckily includes a map of Erethor, not to mention me having the Shackled City books.

Can you guys give me some concrete examples of what you want to see? I've tried to answer your questions along the way but much can be occluded as far as story arcs go. Would posting stat blocks be useful? Or better, less convoluted dungeon descriptions. If it comes down to it, I could always quote the Shackled City book directly. Otherwise, I'd be able to just waylay the eventual consequences and let you guys delve in a creation of my own. But mostly it's been descriptive, otherwise liches might start hoarding treasure, in lieu of dragons' lairs which need liberation.

With suggestions on the rules end of things, I could make some progress.

I think the text blocks from the shackled city would be good.  I have a word document somewhere with what I call textblocks plus....
I have no idea where that is, I would have to look for it.

I think simplified description, if that can be done would help me most. I feel like a chapter of data is being put out and I should only respond with a few sentences… because it is all happening at once

Stat blocks when combat is in session is most useful. The descriptions thus far have been so sweeping that I feel a bit lost. Like Aranea says, a chapter of data is being put out, and it is hard to understand whats going on when I'm struggling with the first three sentences, let alone the full description. I think Im finally getting that there is a struggle for power, and that power takes the form of nexi and items, and the Striders are vying with the Shadow to gain an upper hand, but I don't see how we can make a difference.

Right now, I feel like we are kind of middle tier of individual power in this world. We can, tip the scales in the favor of other organizations but I feel like I don’t know enough about the organizations to make informed decisions about how my character would want to tip the scales.

Alright so the plan is accept there is a larger bit of power moving in the world and we are doing our best to not get swept away by it, so we should make choices that seem feasible for us to accomplish at the moment and keep moving forward.

As far as I know I have a phylactery that the pround or Mongo needs to destroy, and hoping to get some treasure/experience out of that and then the power nexus item that Skie had given originally...see Jack's notes.

So taking a wagon somewhere else after those things, makes sense to me as far as advancing the story.



Are we getting information on the wall and waterfall due to traveling to the pround or energy nexus or just for background???
This message was last edited by the player at 15:11, Sun 30 June.

Can we dip our weapons in thecwaterfall like the Striders are doing? Seems they think they can empower their weapons from it.

Lacking magical footware, I cannot enter the trap.

The Charmed Strider is having his Light drawn away by Shadow. Can I attempt to throw a Cold Iron dagger to disrupt the lifedrain?

If it is only flat footed for a little while, but weapon bonuses stick around it might be worth the stop.

There is a lot to unpack in that… again.

That sounds like a plan to me, just trying to move it forward,
Once free of the lich phylactery, weapon blanch sounds useful and then take the wagon to cauldron.

I feel like we were inclined to trust the striders… thoughts? Feelings?

I think so, for the most part Skie at her shop mentioned them as a force for good, but there may also be agents among them so Jack has been focused on figuring the world out more than making "local" friends.

If Aranea wanted us to try it in character in the game thread, then Jack would probably be hesitant, but agreeable....FYI

What are the effects of the Mark of the Smoking Eye Template that we can now acquire.


Did we all just get gifted magical boots?

Can Mongo do as the Striders, and soak up magic from the waterfall into his weapon?

The smoking eye template has some benefits as written in the shackled city adventure path, though there is a lot a variations that have been added.

One is it connects us to another small demi plane, which is an insignia of station,and getting killed here you reform in that demi-plane....

Let me double check what the as written is, and make sure the DM intends us to make those adjustments.....


This is one of the most common variations I have used:
Sign of the Smoking Eye (variant template)

At all times, you gain the following attributes:

-- +1 to all saving throws. Occipitus is subtly watching out for you.

-- +1 to all attack rolls.

-- +1 caster level for all spells and spell-like abilities.

-- Evil spells affect you as if you were evil, not good. Thus, an Unholy Blight won't hurt you.

-- Lie in State: If you die, after 1 minute your body disappears and reappears dead but intact in the Skull's eye socket in Occipitus.

-- Appearance: Your right eye is replaced with a magical flame that gives no heat and does not burn the surrounding flesh. When your eye is open, it gives illumination as a candle. Your vision is unaffected -- you can see through the eye normally. The eye also gives off wisps of bitter smoke, which will make you easier to track by scent.



I am guessing the boots are either striding and springing or maybe pass without trace?

Not sure what magic the waterfall would impart to weapons....
This message was last edited by the player at 13:10, Thu 11 July.

Interesting template.

Although I guess the scent tracking would not help them know which person they are tracking.


You should see the other half of the template, should we find out selves on the plane of occipitus.....


Hopefully the DM confirms the effects of all three so we can make adjustments to our characters...
This message was last edited by the player at 13:41, Fri 12 July.

What/who is Occipitus? Death god of some sort?

Occipitus is the 507th layer of the Abyss.

Centuries ago, a demonic army invaded Celestia, intent on a campaign of conquest.

The heavenly host repulsed the demon horde, but at great cost.

The angels of Celestia were forced to cast the part of Celestia occupied by the demons into the Abyss, tearing apart the fabric of the plane.

This massive chunk of planar matter came to rest on the 507th layer of the Abyss, and became known to its denizens as "Occipitus."

Ever since, Occipitus has remained an accursed place, feared by both angels and demons.

Fiends who linger here seem to suffer all manner of misfortune, from madness to magical maladies to overly ambitious subordinates.

To most demons, the cause seemed obvious; the chunk of Celestia that Occipitus absorbed was somehow still influencing events there.

Then, Adimarchus, the ruler of Occipitus, suddenly vanished. To most fiends, this event was further proof that Occipitus's curse made the realm more trouble than it was worth.

Thereafter, Occipitus was only sparsely populated, mostly by unlucky fiends with nowhere else to go.

The new ruler of Occipitus shall be granted the title of as the "Master of the Smoking Eye "

Geography

When part of the celestial landscape fell into Occipitus, Adimarchus used the power of the layer itself to consume the wreckage.

This had the side effect of twisting Occipitus into the vaguely organic layer it is today. And the consumption of the celestial landscape is neither complete nor a one·way process. Parts of Occipitus remain a testament to the enduring power of good.

Occipitus appears as a great basin surrounded by impossibly steep mountains that rise to the sky. Near the center of the basin is a low mountain that looks like a half-buried skull.

Amoeba-like blobs of fire continually issue forth from the skull's exposed eye, rising to form the sky and streaming to the moumaintops that form the basin.

These fiery blobs, known as "plasms," bathe the entire landscape in a reddish light. Despite its unusual nature, Occipitus is still a part of the Abyss, and the layer is mildly evil-aligned and mildly chaos-aligned.


The Skull

While the mountain·sized skull appears from a distance to be made of bone, closer inspection reveals that it's actually made from chalky, white rock.

The rock is prone to crumble without warning. While the mountain isn’t hollow like a real skull would be, it does have a few interior chambers.

The few creatures who know about the chambers access them through an underground tube hidden just south of the skull.

The skull has no major features other than the eye socket from which the plasms issue. Because the plasms are exceptionally dangerous, few venture into the eye socket.

Because the skull is visible from almost anywhere on Occipitus, it's a useful landmark for the layer‘s denizens.

The Skies Above Occipitus

The sky has thousands of plasms full of fire and evil energy streaming to the far edges of the layer. The plasms aren't alive, but they do respond to life by moving nearer to it.

Creatures who fly too near the fiery sky find themselves trapped in a swarm of plasms drawn to their life energy.

Flying creatures on Occipitus soon notice another unusual aspect to the plane: there's no wind.

The Flats

The "ground" on Occipitus is a fleshy, spongy surface, which is warm and slightly damp to the touch.

Nothing grows in the grayish-ted substance. It can't be dug, only cut into chunks and removed. It‘s not alive, however.

The flats stretch unbroken for miles. but the traveler to Occipitus quickly notices variations in the flats that add to its skin like quality.

Some patches of flat have thick. hairlike fibers emerging from them, while others have surface variations reminiscent of scales and wrinkles.

Characters walking the flats may notice some other features common to the terrain. including the following.


Ground Ulcers

What the denizens of Occipitus call "ulcers" are 5-foot or 10-foot wide holes in the flat surface.

The ulcers generate caustic. bubbling red liquid—sometimes just a seepage. but other times what looks like a fountain.

The ulcer fluid isn’t blood, but it looks and smells like it. The seeping ulcers simply have a shallow pool of ulcer fluid around them.

Such pools are usually about a foot deep and 20 to 30 feet across. Fountain ulcers have a similar pool around them. but above the pool floats a pink mist—miniscule droplets of the ulcer fluid.

Celestial Rubble

Part of Celestia has been subsumed into the pervasive evil of Occipitus. but some parts remain as a reminder of the layer's celestial origins.

The wreckage of Celestia has been scattered across Occipitus. Such areas have dense rubble and ruined structures—usually stone walls, partial statues or intricately carved monoliths.

Unlike the rest of Occipitus, areas of celestial rubble aren't evil—or chaos-aligned.

Tremor Zones

Parts of Occipitus, often but not always near celestial rubble, quiver continuously, as if a minor earthquake were always going on there.

A typical tremor zone has a 100-foot radlus. Within that range, the vibrations are enough to knock a character over.

Ossalc Forests

Formed of a chalky, crumbling substance, the Ossaic forests are collections of gently curving columns that pierce the spongy surface of the layer.

Visitors from the Material Plane often say they look like massive rib bones thrust into the air.

Fibrous Forests

Some parts of Occipitus contain massive tangles of fleshy, ropelike plants that feed off the layer's surface.

Although they aren't living creatures, these tangles of fibers slowly attempt to consume creatures who stay in one place for long.

Creatures within 20 feet of a tangle who spend more than a few seconds in the same spot find that some of the tendrils attempt to grab them.

Oh, how lovely.


Yeah, I'm staying away from that template....

I tried to do a small journal entry as we wait for the confirmations from the DM about the boots, weapon blanch and the template proper...

I can post in the coming days but any sign of Aranea? I really like what you guys are doing on the player end.

I know that Aranea is super invested in her character and wanting to move things forward.

Looks like Mongo is opting out of the smoking eye template, I am fine with it.

Let us know what the boots, template, and weapon treatment does (so characters/descriptions can be updated)....

I’m struggling to unpack the posts, I’m around but don’t have enough understanding and while is have asked for language to be simplified this is not simpler. I don’t want to be a whiny player but I’m pretty consistently lost in the narrative and I’m usually pretty smart but I feel dumb with this.

Also clarifications on what is actually happening to people (effects wise , for party members, at least) would be great. Maybe I’m just used to more micro managing my characters in games and I need to relax and let it flow more.

My understanding is no greater than yours. I am simply going with My Interpretation of what is written and keying my actions off that. I am hoping that if my suppositions are wrong they will be gently corrected.

I feel like the struggle is real, the only thing  I have going for me is the knowledge of the shackled city adventure  path, but  that is  surprisingly not as helpful as you might think in terms of this confusing world.  I have been going with the stranger in a strange land vibe as much as possible, and updating  my journal to try and help organize things.

My journal is way behind in even remotely keeping pace with the posts.  The spell weavers and the pround being revealed as Khaphalon and lots of other smaller details.  K. in the story was originally after the template for himself.

I keep hoping for the information we need and leveling up to get everyone more invested in their PC's.
I like both Mongo and Aranea a lot.

Let me see if we can decipher another part of the in game post:


Another dream you undergo makes you visualize a demon barking commands to an underling, with a Craft Staff spell in Abyssal tearing through matter to settle in one luminous photosynthetic drop upon the wands of control water. Flooding of the land under Cauldron recalls this spot that Wogren Moor embodies, having settled upon a man named Zenith Splintershield whose writings to Alek Tercival appear muddled and dangerous.......


Alright so we have a demon crafting a staff and trying to do something to the wands, (a green drop of corruption perhaps)

Zenith Splintershield is a dwarf warrior, of the splintershield name one that is famous

Alek Tercival is a paladin in cauldron, who may be under some sort of confusion at the moment


So let us say that the vision or dream had details in the post that made things clearer...

You have a vision of a demon, barking commands and squeezing pussiant evil from the illearth stone, an evil destructive force targeted at the wands of control water.  The dream shows you a place ? "that Wogren Moor embodies"??? the evil schemes seem to coalese around the dwarven descendant of the splinter shield clan, zenith by name, ???
You see a holy knight, Alek Tercival ....
This message was last edited by the player at 23:10, Tue 16 July.

Snakeskin boots +1?

Is that +1 AC, +1 Attack and damage (kicking) or +1 Stealth?

In reply to Mongo (msg # 322):

Snakeskin boots +1, knee-high. These boots are immune to change from without

Immune to polymorph magic?  maybe?

+1 what, though?

I don't know what the +1 applies to. Immune to some sort of magical corruption that we may have to "wade" through at some point???
+1 boots of kicking and stomping sounds nice...

I get the stonebiter arrows (I think) but is that the arrows I dipped? Or some other kind of arrows?

Then it looks like we could collect some oil of mending, some number of doses of that as well.

Something odd.
The peat can serve as Oil of Mending.

You can remove the Smoking eye and apply peat to it. Mending it gives rise to new landscapes, as if landscapes viewed by the mended Eye have their blight removed. Can it truly be as simple as that? Keep feeding your Eye with the mending peat and replenish the blighted landscapes around us by sweeping them with your vision?

I was thinking that was a path or means in which to claim and fix Occipitus the plane itself.....
Who knows?

Hmmm. Your arrows converted to Stonebiters. Yet no transformation or power to my Goliath Greathammer?

The Boots +1. Do they appear only for the first to venture into the field, or for both of us?


My thrown dagger appears to be lost, with no effect, correct?

No idea what if anything the process had on other weapons...I assume they did not dissolve and have some yet unknown effect

I read three pairs of boots, one for each of us.
Whatever they do.


To help us sort it all out and to slow things down a bit...
So put it into the IC thread...detect magic and Spellcraft check.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:49, Fri 19 July.

“We are amidst strange beings, in a strange land. The flow of time itself is convoluted; with heroes centuries old phasing in and out. The very fabric wavers, and relations shift and obscure.“

Dark souls
Elden ring

I have not played these games but I think the idea makes sense

Where did everyone go....

I'd imagine the other players were waiting for me to catch up. In the meantime, some of my own brand of contributions:

The +1 is generic, an indicator of power level. This is in contrast to the appearance of the boots which remain the main idea. As per what Jack suggested, anything that you use boots for gets a +1, including long jumping and tasks based on adamantite which is the pround's latest obsession (but who does he work for?)

The magic item slots work as normal, and your flying dagger, Mongo, lodged in the rock, despite the rock's hardness. This would suggest a spongiform landscape susceptible to Concentration checks to simultaneously Spot and Search (achieving an inspection that is more efficient). The sponginess and sandiness of the soil in this region (Central Erenland) is notorious from way back when. So if you want to grab your flying dagger, it feels slightly colder to the touch. You feel the water tinkling softly upon your hand, for which presumably you removed your gauntlets, unless you're the type of adventurers who ford rivers without second thoughts about how to dry your garb (which is as important as not sleeping in armor). Drying spells are cleric and druid spells (which the Striders can offer you) of the level 1 but more advanced magic items demand better spells, potentially access to Skullrot (which is a hyper-dry plane prone to fires).

Seems like Aranea isn't available or lost interest for I haven't heard anything from her. Did you guys want to keep going with just the two of you? Obviously I'll give her as much time as she needs for I myself have slowed down upon the posting rate. If you get the peat, there might be a bonus for purifying the region, which is overall impoverished. The mark of the smoking eye is as inert as it is game-changing, basically player fiat as to how it is explained, but it is somewhat of a cursed item as it imbues you with a destiny that eggshells against the host of demons straggling through ley lines and other occult arcana. Like in New Urth you might hide the eye in your boots or find clever ways to interact with the environment based on your magic items, which will symbolically distort the world.

Forgot to mention there are boots for the entire party, 1 per person. This is how magic items will be dished out if a symbolic scene or up for grabs when just looting or dorking around the city peeping in people's windows.

Alright so I am going to call them "+1 boots of walking" and assume they apply to things like balance, climb, jump, Dex checks and reflex saves?


I think she was having trouble keeping track, I feel like she was pretty invested.

Mongo retrieves the dagger with his glove on. His armor is so articulated that it wears as easily as normal clothing, although heavy clothing, so sometimes he doesn't notice. Drying is something that is inconsequential for someone with rocky skin.

Also, since Mongo has Concentration +13, he'll notice details the others miss, all too likely
This message was last edited by the player at 00:27, Thu 25 July.

Onwards!

I thought about sending Ms. A a private message, but she would only see it on here, so it might as well just be a post.

Pausing the game until I hear from Aranea, who knows how long she'll be unavailable or has quit entirely.

I haven't posted in the recruitment section for most players are fickle and I've lost the majority. Hence why you guys are the core 3, assuming.

Aranea, are you still interested?

Potential new players, oldies who quit way back when. Mongo and Jack, are you still in? We can get things moving again if so.

But if I don't respond on here, then something came up IRL. I would assume Aranea is thusly ensnared.

Still in until I get too confused.

Still here....


Welcome new people!!!
This message was last edited by the player at 00:49, Sun 18 Aug.