Hello all!

Vayu-Raman blinks lazily, wondering how long it will take a sea elf to dry out and wither in the sun. Though there were desert fae, as he knew well, surely they did not look thus? He twitches one furry ear to dislodge a fly. Wait - perhaps she knew a magic to protect, beyond her garments!

Looks like all of the Smokefinders are magical sorts? If you need a precipitating force for the initial meeting of that group, Vayu-Raman would be quick to approach any magic-wielding folk. All would recognize him as that weird lanky gnoll who kept nattering away to them about magic.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 19:06, Fri 27 Jan 2023.

I just realized I am actually a Smokefinder! ha! Not sure how I missed that giant post, but either way Eshma is happy to be helping the town :)

Happens in excitement, and they are more guidelines anyway:D

Anahitaria might not have been as prepared for the desert as she thought, and would be looking for more hear suitable clothes. So easy run in with Eshma.

The gnoll watching her was hard to miss. Anahitaria didn't know what he wanted but she didn't mind. She knew how to take care of herself. Imagining the gnoll soaking wet made him seem less intimidating.

Barely meeting the threshold to be considered a caster, but yes seems we are all magical ;)

I think everyone is waiting with baited breath to see the fireworks go when Ka and Vayu meet, xonsidering Ka's deity is basically thr Forgotten Realms version of a certain jackal... :p

Character sheet is up, just gotta mark down my gear. Also found a portrait I like, I think.

Also, if Ka and Vayu fought to the death, would whoever died get sent to their god, or their opponents? :P

Probably depends how they were buried afterward? :D

The last time I played a game in the Realms, Myrkul was the guy when it came to death gods. Kelemvor came out with 2e, I think? I'm not so familiar with him.

But for Vayu-Raman, gods are not his concern. Except in so much as they have taught their followers interesting magic...
This message was last edited by the player at 23:43, Sat 28 Jan 2023.

I'm in favour of prexisting connections between PCs (including between groups in this campaign's case), but I know some people don't like to force it.

Maybe Omar and Ineqtawy Mahdi have travelled together a bit, sort of a Fahfrd and Grey Mouser buddy-cop crook duo.

Nasadra, Vayu, Eshma and T'kensan all potentially came from, across or from beneath the wastelands so might have run into each other - especially Eshma, hailing from a halfling burrow and Nasadra, from a dark elven subterranean holdfast might have met each other before the latter ever saw the sun.

Anahitaria and Ka Anpu come from kingdoms to the south, in the sea and on land respectively. They might have met on board a ship crossing the Ink Sea, battling pirates, slavers or sharkfolk.


Or rather, the Tal-Talabi version of the Forgotten Realms version of Anubis oh no I've gone cross-eyed.

(Don't they have the actual Egyptian pantheon in FR's Mulholland, too? Must be a lot of jostling for jurisdiction).

I like the idea that Ka and Anahitaria met while traveling to the city.  He'd certainly be the type to offer her protection or at least a companion on the way to their destination.



(Possibly, but I know you didn't want to have real-world equivalents so I suppose the answer is in your universe, no they don't :P)
This message was last edited by the player at 23:49, Sat 28 Jan 2023.

Had a quick scan through Powers and Pantheons, the 2e Forgotten Realms book with the Mulhorandi pantheon. They are indeed Egyptian deities. But there's no Anubis! Osiris seems to have nabbed his portfolio. Weird.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:56, Sat 28 Jan 2023.

Here's the writeup/version of Kelemvor that I submitted to the DM:
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Kelemvor

One PC's sheet is done (turns out fighters are straightforward, who'd have thought it). Anyone else, let me know when you're ready for me to take a look.

Added an equipment section to the house rules thread - just rules for hot-weather clothing at the moment (thank you for the suggestion, Anahitaria), but more to come as I ransack old 3.5 and Pathfinder books for inspiration. Anyone who has traveller's clothes as part of their class or background gear can swap it for hot-weather clothes for no cost.

Regarding equipment, I'm not an arrow-counting or weight-tracking kind of GM, so don't worry too much about recording carry weight, etc. I like to use the lifestyle rules (PHB 157) to keep track of living expenses without nickel and diming you for every mug of ale cup of date wine, so might be wise to keep a few coins in hand to pay for that.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:44, Sun 29 Jan 2023.

I enjoyed playing a Scrivener of Thoth in 2e. It allowed a human to multi-class as a Priest/Wizard. The down side was no armor but handy when the other players wanted to play fighters and thieves.

T'kensan was incommunicado, so in the interests of keeping things moving smoothly I've invited a new player in their stead. Please welcome Pasha Renn, a dweller in the hinterlands and student of the ecology around Ibh-Kewar!
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 04:20, Sun 29 Jan 2023.

Hello all, excited to join you!

I am ready for you to take a look at my sheet @GM. I made it pretty late so please excuse any glaring oversights. =)
This message was last edited by the player at 07:28, Sun 29 Jan 2023.

Seconded, although she needs little protection she will welcome company, especially once their beliefs come up and the discussion of Life vs Death starts going.

Welcome Pasha! Looking forward to explaining how much better living on the coast is, especially when everyone is in balance with the environment.
(P.S. For now Pasha looks a lot like Vayu - please check the description)

Sounds good Ana.  Would you like to set that up via a PM or just as we go along?

And welcome Pasha!

DM, can we have threads for pre start RP (so they can be made visible to others at some point), or should we do it in PMs for simplicity?

@DM: Madhi's sheet is complete!

@Omar: I'm open to having us met before! We seem to have some similar interests! Any thoughts there?

In reply to Anahitaria (msg # 30):

Stand by.

Thanks for the warm welcome gang!

Works for me. Maybe we had worked on a caravan in the past and went our separate ways.

All right, I had planned to put up a prologue thread in the marketplace of Ibh-Kewar to let you do some freeform RP and introductions before the Call to Adventure while the remaining sheets are sorted out; I can also put up some other threads for pairs or groups that knew each other beforehand:

• One for Ka and Anah travelling to the Khvarenah Empire by ship.
• One for Mahdi and Omar doing some caravan escort work.

Anyone else want one?

Any chance the Caravan escort work was for the Caravan that brought Eshma to the city?

Vayu-Raman could meet someone ahead of time, or meet everyone for the first time in the village; either can work.