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According to my DM, our party and their dice rolls may not be sponsored by Draft Kings or FanDuel.
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Nov 12, 2023 15:42
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According to my DM, my Cleric may not roll with Advent-age during the holiday season. Also, new Tanicus campaign via Pathfinder 2.0 begins recapping this January. It's eldritch horror themed. 
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Dec 21, 2023 19:19
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Agrikk posted:So this would be your third Tanicus campaign on this thread? Everyone rips off everyone, so go nuts! Fourth campaign, actually. COVID hit in the middle of the second campaign and was still going on when the third started. I wasn't in the mental headspace to take notes and write anything up, plus half the fun of the recaps are the terrain and figures/minis, so I fell off it. Re-energized, though, as is my DM. He's been itching to switch to Pathfinder since the OGL mess.
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Dec 28, 2023 16:35
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Two rounds of COVID and last night's flooding have delayed the start of our Pathfinder campaign, but that hasn't stopped me from torturing my DM. According to my DM, my Artificer may not be named "Karl Hungus."
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Jan 10, 2024 16:11
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According to my GM, I am not allowed to put a Ring of Feather Fall on a chicken just to see what happens.
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Jan 21, 2024 01:36
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Emissaries of the Old Ones, Book One Chapter 1 - The Invasion of Fallcrest X X X X X "That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die...." - HP Lovecraft. X X X X X 26 Years ago The 6th day of Myrddem in the month of Ariwaen, a peaceful spring evening, comes to an end. Midnight. The sky erupts with light as a dome of glistening energy in a hexagonal pattern stretches to all horizons. Magic stops. Time passes. 10 seconds. 30 seconds. One minute. The dome falls and magic returns, slowly growing back to its original power. Her eyelids snap open. Her eyes are orbs of darkness, black and unmarked. Specks of light begin to shine in that darkness like a myriad of stars, and a single, white moon appears to form the iris. But the stars within her eyes do not twinkle, and flecks of color in each reveal them to be not stars but a myriad unblinking eyes within her own. She sits bolt upright in her bed, a little girl with hair as red as Luserius. Her eyes narrow with malice as her thin mouth slowly grows into a twisted smile. Her sweet child's voice escapes her lips, barely more than a whisper as her eyes return to their original green. "They're coming," she says, "And the way must be prepared." X X X X X One month ago Three strange moons... so many rotations of this world. How long as it been wandering? Four seasons? Five? Time is not a construct with which it has often been forced to coexist. It continues searching, blindly, reaching out to feel the slightest... Wait! There. A touch... weak and distant, but undeniably a touch. Lost for so long. Not lost. Hidden. Not anymore. It will find it. Free it. And once it is liberated... they will not be far behind.... X X X X X Now  On Siyradem 10, Emanaus, the Year 3000 Sear Reckoning, Queen Kaelynn Dragonhall of Kaern Korinna sent the Articles of Secession to the High King of Kaeryn pledging to stand against him should he proceed with a planned crusade against the hobgoblins of the fledgling Rhuuk Empire. The crusade never began, but one year later to the day, the counts and barons of the region unanimously voted to ratify the queen's succession, Kaern Korinna was renamed Argentium, the Silver City, and the kingdom of Wintermount was born. When announcing the ratification, Queen Kaelyn declared that a new holiday, the Festival of Sovereignty, would be celebrated from dawn of the 19th day to the midnight of the 21st day of Emanaus each year in remembrance. Today is the second day of that festival's 24th occurrence, Siyradem 10, Emanaus, the year 3026 Sear Reckoning. Last night, on the eve of the first day of festivities, five people came together at a table in the common room of The Broken Goblet Taphouse and Inn on their common quest to find a place to sit. Although their association was fresh and new, they all promised to come together this afternoon to cheer on Poppy, one of their number, in the day's contest of champions, the first of Lethik's warriors to ever enter the tournament. And so you stand among the onlookers at the South Ward Stables watching the contest on a cloudy yet unseasonably warm early autumn day. X X X X X  Iteru Hajar - an Undine (water genasi) Bard from the western continent of Thyrin  Yllestria Mithrilgrove - a Ghealasidh (Pale Elf) Metal and Wood Kineticist also from Thyrin  Velia Starkweather - a Saoirsidh (Starlight Elf) Summoner from Fallcrest  Poppy McClaren - a Champion of Lethik and daughter of local hero, Biff McClaren, Cleric of Lethik    Piran Luca - a Thaumaturge travelling salesman of all that will cure what ails you   The saga begins with Poppy standing in a melee ring with another Champion as she participates in her first tournament ever (and we as the players begin our eternal grapple with strange, crypting etchings, aka the Pathfinder 2e system). Poppy holds her own for several rounds when screams are heard nearby. Several citizens are running from strange toad-like creatures emerging from the nearby Brandywine River - bigger and more upright than bullywugs and, somehow, seemingly more ancient.   The adventurers readied themselves - Iteru beat a courageous anthem on his drum, Yllestria surrounded herself with wooden armor, Piran studied the creatures to Recall Knowledge what he knew of them (such as vulnerabilities or if they had attacks of opportunity, as not every creature in Pathfinder has them), Poppy Raised her Shield, and Velia summoned her eidolon, her father-in-law, Champion Sir Kerien Starkweather, a valiant knight who's been dead for over a year.  The party makes their way through the town, zeroing in on the sounds of screaming citizens, taking on a variety of ancient creatures that smell like a deep, dark, dank place that hasn't seen the light of day or a wet mop in an eternity. This included a mysterious white lizard-creature with a nauseating stench and a gray lizard-creature that keeps spitting green goo on people, to the point where even Sir Kerien becomes Sickened.       After saving several people, including Fallcrest's head ratcatcher Miles Tuppet (Velia - "Yeah, we'll be seeing him again.") the party grabs a rest and tries to piece together what's happening. Between rumors from the Western Continent heard by Yllestria and Iteru along with Piran's esoteric knowledge, the party begins to come up with the vague outlines of a theory. X X X X X Twenty-five game years ago, in a Tanicus campaign with different players, a group of heroes on the Western Continent discovered that while the gods claimed the world long ago, they didn't actually create it - they defeated and kicked out a pantheon referred to as the Old Ones and locked up their servant races, known collectively as the foreclaimer races. There were four known foreclaimer races - gator-creatures, bald blue-skinned humanoids, serpent-types, and what could best be described as 'tentacles things.' Along with the Old Ones, these races also worshiped powerful evil elemental princes known as the Archomentals. X X X X X quote:Piran - "These creatures we've been fighting. They're not simply croaking and growling. They're speaking a language that hasn't been heard on Tanicus in centuries called Aklo. It's a language... from out there. Between things." After saving another group of citizens, the party finds itself in front of Warriors’ Falls, a small waterfall fed by an underground spring that flows into a tributary of the Brandywine. Yllestria suggests checking to see if there's anything behind the waterfall. "In character, these creatures are coming from the river, maybe they're emerging from the waterfall. Out of character, we've all played enough video games to know to always check behind the waterfall."   It turns out that Yllestria was right. Behind the waterfall is a large metal door surrounded by the debris from a rockslide ("Perhaps caused by one of the recent earthquakes," suggests Velia). A dead dwarf lies motionless on the ground in front of the door, clutching a piece of bloody parchment in one hand, while surrounding him are a couple of big New York rats. Instead of snouts, however, they have tentacles.  After defeating them and learning that Pathfinder encourages 10-minute rests after combat, the party takes the time to study both the door and the parchment. The dwarf's fingers were worn to the nub from digging at the rubble surrounding the door, and with his last efforts he used his blood as ink…  quote:The umbral night grows yawning near Iteru studies the metal door, finding runes that, much like the Aklo language, are also from "out there" and are meant to confound and confuse the unwary. Somehow (aka the Aid Action from Piran and Yllestria), Iteru manages to disable the runes and opens the door into a small antechamber for a ruined complex, possibly a temple, possibly a tomb. At this point Yllestria quickly heads back outside the waterfall and uses her magic to set a bonfire and an arrow pointing to the waterfall to grab the attention of the town guard before the party cautiously makes its way inside the complex. Once inside, however, Yellstria, Piran, and Sir Kerian begin to hear the poem inside their heads, repeated over and over again. Only the three of them hear this poem while Iteru is checking two more doors for potential traps. While revealing this to the group, Piran suggested that it might have something to do with dreams - specifically, how his dreams are vivid and sometimes are “visited,” Kerian being a summoned eidolon, and Yllestria slipping into a trance instead of sleeping per her Sidh heritage. quote:Kerian - “I do not dream - my experiences come when Velia summons me. However, I do remember something akin to our current situation. It was about twenty-five years ago when a rockslide uncovered a door much like this one on the side of a mountain. It was obvious that someone had hidden it away and meant for it to remain undiscovered. I remember venturing through the door, but despite my best efforts, I can’t recall what we found inside.”    After dealing with some amoebas in a chamber where the floor warped and the angles became impossible, giving the PC’s Sickness (once again, Iteru had to throw up to purge the nausea), the party came across a diamond-shaped chamber with a glowing fountain (thanks to LEG lights!) near the entrance and a metal door in the shadows along the far wall. Being able to breathe underwater, Iteru bravely/stupidly sticks his face under the surface. The fountain sat atop a water-filled vault, with large, evenly shaped metal plates along the wall separated by shimmering lines.    Before Iteru could explain his theory that the vault is where the invading creatures came from, the shadows near the back door coalesced into a trio of wolves with pools of darkness where their eyes should have been - temagyr, wolves tied to the realm of the Shadow Fae. The wolves were nasty opponents, with Attacks of Opportunity, and nearly killed Iteru when one of them took a bite out of his shadow, ripping out a chunk and rending his soul in the process. Fortunately, Piran could turn his war pick into cold iron… or rather have it mimic cold iron… or rather give it the properties of cold iron (“It’s magic, you don't have to explain it.”), given the party a fighting chance to take them down. quote:Iteru - “I feel like my spleen’s missing.” Another brief rest followed. When Iteru went to open the door in the back of the chamber, he discovered that it was already open. Beyond the door was a tomb, with a sarcophagus atop a small platform, and what could only be described as a floating stomach trying to open it.    Tentacles hung from the bladder like wet paper, and the mouth on its tail was surrounded by a ring of mandibles as it spoke. ??? - “What manner of creatures are you? You resemble the Remnant, but Saracco is long gone.” Piran immediately recognizes the name - it’s a place that his dream visitor hails from, a point of origin from which they had fled. quote:??? - “Are you here for the Implement?” Cue a nasty fight with Acid Sprays, Mirror Images, and Dazzlements. By the end, Poppy and Yllestria are down, but Iteru manages to stabilize them. quote:Piran - “This is where you would have slammed your fist down on their chest and screamed that they’ve never given up in their lives, don’t start now!” It takes a bit to open the sarcophagus, as the gap was narrow as if made for tentacles, not fingers. Inside is a humanoid figure in dark robes with blue skin and no hair of any kind wearing a mummified six-fingered hand around its neck. The corpse itself is clutching a large, nasty looking green-steel sword, with three lines on the pommel that open to reveal amber eyes with sideways pupils that glare at the party. Under the sword is a thick tome bound in some kind of brass, with seven sigils arranged in a circle on a round disc on its cover. As the party studied the corpse, the sword spoke. “Are you here to tear down the gates?” While Piran arranges for safe, non-touchy transport of the items, Kerian says that when he was alive he knew of a sage named Zorah Prentiss who was seeking any information and knowledge about the foreclaimer racers from the western continent. Poppy noted that there’s someone in the Lower Ward of Fallcrest, known locally as Greencloak, who might fit Kerian’s description. The group left the complex and explained what they had found (minus most of the “Eldritch Horrors From Beyond The Beginning of Time” stuff) to the knights who had seen Yllestria’s fire before making their way through the recovering town to Zorah’s shop in the Lower Ward. The sage recognized Sir Kerian, easing the revelation of what the party found in the complex. Zorah showed keen interest when Piran mentioned the words “Armageddon Edge,” and even more when she saw the sword. The book held by the corpse, according to Zorah, was known as the Book of Seven Gates, and will provide its contents to one who invests their soul to it, while the mummified hand was a Hand of the Mage which allows the user to cast the Mage Hand cantrip. But it was the blade that mattered to her.    quote:“I know this as Gruulshahn, the Apocalypse Blade. My research suggested that the current pantheon stole the world from another one. This blade confirms it. The gods used powerful seals to prevent the Old Ones from influencing this world. This weapon was forged for the purpose of destroying those gates. The Abstractions were guardians of the gates on the other side of the seals. If you encountered one, that means one seal has already fallen.” The good news, Zorah says, is that the blade can be destroyed, and the method can be found using a tome called Librum Escorpus or The Book of Dooms. Unfortunately, said tome was lent to a wizard named Theodûir several decades ago. If the party were to retrieve the tome from his apprentice, who is currently residing in his tower south of the city along the river, Zorah could use its power to identify the means of destroying Gruulshahn. Zorah glanced at Kerian, who told her with a simple nod that the party could be trusted. The flick of a switch moved a table attached to the floor, revealing a staircase heading into a hidden basement which contained bunks, alchemy supplies, books, training equipment, and a warded vault for securing artifacts. quote:Zorah - “Welcome to the Fallcrest HQ of the Greencloaks, founded to fight cultists and esoteric threats around the globe.” Later, after attending a banquet thrown by Kennet Greywinter, Count of Fallcrest, in gratitude for the party’s defense of the town and its citizens, the newly minted Greencloaks prepare to secure a boat and head downriver to Theodûir's Tower… CobiWann fucked around with this message at 23:32 on Mar 18, 2024 |
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Feb 5, 2024 23:49
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Ichabod Sexbeast posted:Yesssssssssssssssssssssss Hand of Glory or Hand of Vecna? Nope, only something practical... quote:Which character are you playing as? Also, who was in the other Tanicus campaign? All five players were in the previous recapped campaigns. We had a sixth (and a seventh way back when) but real life happened. I'm playing Iteru, the Bard. I felt it was "my turn" to be the healer this time out and was reading up on 5e Bards when the DM announced our switch to Pathfinder 2e after the OGL mess once the current campaign had wrapped up. Half the fun in the first two sessions was learning a new system.
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Feb 6, 2024 12:10
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:Ariwaen is the name of the month, but what is Myrddem? It sounds like a unit of time. I have a similar question about Siyradem and Emanaus, I don't quite understand the context. To quote my DM... quote:The calendar of Tanisha has eight months, Dyadaen and Ariwaen in the spring, Seanadar and Fergudar in the summer, Emanaus and Roanaus in the autumn, and Bilys and Annys in the winter.
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Feb 15, 2024 21:28
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I have been trying desperately to get my group to play a round of Paranoia. Just don't know which edition to use... X X X X X According to my DM, there is no such spell as Otto's Forbidden Lambada.
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Feb 21, 2024 02:57
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Antifreeze Head posted:If it helps, Humble Bundle has the Mongoose edition up right now priced at less than a dollar a book. Ooooooooooooh... thank you, Citizen!
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Feb 22, 2024 16:51
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According to DM, every Darklord in Ravenloft is cursed to use the Imperial measurement system.
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Mar 16, 2024 02:21
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Tunicate posted:Players must mete out justice and defeet the evil rulers. My DM - "Not just any unit of measure in the Imperial system, but all encumbrance must be calculated in Stone. All temperatures are in the Rankine scale. Length must be in Hands."
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Mar 16, 2024 13:20
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Emissaries of the Old Ones, Book One Chapter 2 - “River of Dreams / The Apprentice and the Book” X X X X X "That which we call substance and reality is shadow and illusion, and that which we call shadow and illusion is substance and reality." - HP Lovecraft X X X X X Previously on “Welcome To A New World of Strange Rules and Eldritch Monsters”... A group of travelers to the city of Fallcrest becomes a newly minted adventuring party when the city is attacked by strange creatures pouring forth from an ancient temple uncovered by an earthquake, while a mysterious sage becomes their patron and directs them to obtain the means to destroy a forbidden sword whose purpose is to sever the seals holding the Old Ones from Tanicus. X X X X X In order to destroy the Apocalypse Blade known as “Gruulshahn the Aberrant Nail,” the Greencloaks need to recover the Librum Escorpus (or the Book of Dooms) from the wizard Theodûir who lives south of the city along the Brandywine River. Our patron Zorah, however, hasn’t heard from the wizard or his apprentice, Tam Everland, in over five years. Deciding that a boat would be the best option, the party heads to the docks and hires one Emmaline Yeardly, captain of Laurence, to take them downriver on her way to dropping off cargo at Woodlawn Keep.   Our DM was happy to have these tiles as they represent a navigable river and are wide enough to move the boat without the model clipping the shore. As Yllestria explains the nature of her Kineticist powers and how she draws metal and wood directly from their respective Elemental planes, Iteru notices Captain Emmaline talking to a shield with a familiar symbol on the backside - the symbol of Istishia, primordial deity of elemental water and the deity that Iteru pays homage to. The trip to the Wizard’s tower will take two days. In order to pass the time Piran asked if anyone would like to take part in a Harrow draw (Pathfinder’s counterpart to a Tarot draw). Velia asked about the Wizard’s apprentice, and in turn pulled the Betrayal card - a card that can speak to selfishness incarnate or self-sacrifice.  Iteru asked for a draw and got the Courtesan - intrigue, politics and the masks we wear, and may speak of powerful figures in our future.  Poppy pulled the Empty Throne - it may speak to those who trained and influenced the party, but also represent restless spirits. At the party’s behest Piran did a full Harrow spread. The end result? There is deceit in what’s to come, but also a chance to avoid danger while events move as they should.    (Really I’m showing this off because the artwork is beautiful) As Laurence continues downriver, Iteru saw bubbles dropping into the water, quickly followed by bubbles rising from the water and floating into the air as the boat hit a patch of wild magic and it began to rain in reverse, which threatened to lift the boat out of the water. A trio of boggarts compounded the problem.  What followed was a display of Yllestria’s player’s dice luck as she (male player, but gotta keep recap pronouns accurate!) proceeded to roll a natural 1 on her attack roll. The card from the crit deck was Not My Pony!, which meant her attack hit Sir Kerien, for which she rolled maximum damage on the eidolon. As Emeline struggled to hold the boat over the water, Yllestria’s next round saw another natural 1. The crit deck called for her to be moved ten feet, so the DM ruled that the rising water grabbed her and held her in the air. Of course, this meant Yllestria’s next attack was a ranged attack, for which… she rolled a natural 20 and perforated a boggart with metal shards to the point where the body could be recycled. quote:Velia - “You let the water grab you so you could be put into a more advantageous position!” The crisis passed once the boggarts were defeated and water returned to finding the lowest point possible. As the party assessed the damage, Velia realized how desperate Emeline had been to keep the boat over the water. When asked… quote:Emmaline - “I can explain. I can’t cross onto dry land.” Emmaline explains that her papa had been cursed by sirens (or maybe naiads) to always need water under his feet, lest he become horrifically sick and eventually die. When he died, the curse was passed onto her. As such she had to spend her entire life on the river or tied up at dock and paid homage to Istishia for guidance and safety while on the water. As a follower of Istishia himself, Iteru sympathized with Emmaline, especially since he is under a compulsion of his own. quote:“My tribe lives on the shore of a large mountain lake, and we have a genie patron, a marid named Alq. She is powerful and mercurial as all genie are, but she seemed to take a particular delight in my misfortunes. I was strumming my lute at the water’s edge when she joined me. After listening for a bit, she said that it had been ages since she had heard a song that stirred her heart. At the sorrow in her voice I said “I wish I could write a tune that would stir your soul.” In an instant she smiled and boomed, “GRANTED!” Next thing I knew, I was on a boat heading for the Eastern Continent. And I’ve been trying to write that song ever since and coming up dry.” Later that day Iteru and Yllestria are fishing off the side of the boat. Yllestria got a nibble, only for her pole to be yanked from her hands into the river. Iteru helpfully retrieved the pole using    The defeat of the critter came as the sun dipped low on the horizon. Emeline pulled Laurence close to the shore to allow the party to disembark and set up camp. The initial survey, however, revealed something off about the site.  A large, metallic-but-transparent crystal grew near one of the trees, in which Piran noticed a shadowy form, while Yllestria noticed that a nearby tree had a figure in plate armor draped over a branch in such a manner to suggest that it had been hurled onto the tree.   The crystal contained a creature transforming into an akada which was guarded by three of the beefy dog-like creatures, which hail from the Far Realm/Nightmare Lands like creatures with long tails and tentacles lining their backs. Tied to Saracco (the eldritch point of origin where Piran’s dream visitor hails from), a bite from their creatures risk implantation of their young and eventual cocoonment.   The party managed to defeat the creatures without becoming impregnated.The armor belonged to the corpse that wore it, a desecated lwnasidh knight from the Order of the Silver Swan. Hailing recently from Aelu Derai, the Silver Swans were once questing knights based on the archipelago of the Faerie Isles. Many of their number remained on the mainland when the Faerie Isles were closed off nearly two centuries before and only recently rejoined their people when the lwnasidh emigrated from the West to Ceilar. Poppy took the armor, planning to use it for the time being, but would return it to the Silver Swans at the first opportunity, then the party settled in for the night. While in the midst of her reverie, Yllestria has a dreamlike memory of something that didn’t happen to her. quote:You are running through a dark tunnel, foul-smelling liquid splashing around your feet. The footsteps are still behind you, growing louder as the fatigue begins to set in, the backs of your legs burning. Yllestria awoke, noticing that the same silver scales she'd seen in the dream was emblazoned on Poppy's shield, but chose not to discuss it with the party. X X X X X   It was raining heavily, with lightning touching down in the distance when the party disembarked from Laurence within sight of Theodûir’s tower. The tower appeared abandoned as the party approached. Atop a rocky crag is a statue of what appeared to be a young man in robes, leaning forward slightly, arms out, and an expression of shock etched on his face.   Combining their esoteric knowledge and skills, the party determined that the statue was under the effects of Conjuration and Enchantment via a curse channeled through a glyph on its forehead. Velia and Yllestria work together to break the curse. As the young man falls face first to the ground, however, a trio of strange creatures crawl out from the rocks.    Appropriately called chokers, these creatures used the suckers lining their fingers and their palms to choke Piran and Poppy, but from the newly unstoned caster, a series of quote:Tam - “Based on what you say is today’s date, roughly five years ago Master Theodûir was visited by an envoy from the Duchy of Highspire. Her name was Adrienne Ash, and her mission was to invite my Master to return to the duchy and end his exile. Instead, she slit his throat during dinner, and as I tried to escape, I heard a distant whisper and felt my skin turning to stone. The next thing I recall, I was face down on the rock at the feet of your gaudily clad colleague.” After finding a silver necklace adorned with tiny knives amidst the chokers’ trove, Tam unlocked the tower and carefully made his way inside, the Greencloaks following close behind. Furniture strewn throughout the ground floor spoke of a hasty flight. Near the steps leading higher up the tower stood a stone statue of a Saerasi warrior (akin to a Greek Hoplite armed with a shield and spear) from the Western Continent - a statue that was a new addition to the tower according to Tam.   Tam took the opportunity to climb down into the basement where the living quarters were located in order to change into some dry, blood-free clothing. His room was as he left it five years earlier, save for a new portrait of Theodûir hanging on the wall. When he finished changing and turned around, however, the portrait was now on the opposite wall. Tam turned towards the door to make a hasty exit, only now the portrait sat on the wall next to the door. One brief gesture later, Tam’s dry, clean outfit was drenched with fresh paint from the living graffiti.    It’s a messy fight, but the party broke the graffiti down to its primary colors before it faded to gray. quote:Tam - “That was an experience I don’t care to repeat. Hopefully I won’t have to get rid of these walls to prevent its return - they look load-bearing.”   After changing clothes yet again Tam led the party to the second floor dining room, which reeked of decay and rot and also boasted a mirror that Tam did not recognize. Before the party could investigate, however, a swarm of disembodied hands emerged from underneath the stairs and tried to choke out the party.   quote:Piran - “What do we call a swarm of disembodied hands? Once the clasp of hands were defeated, the party turned to deal with the mirror. When Iteru began to study it with Read Aura, he saw a distant figure within the glass playing a song. He only picked up a few notes, but realized it was the song he needed to fulfill his ill-phrased Wish, if he only watched until he learned the tune… Luckily a success on a Will save snapped Iteru out of it, and the party dealt with the trap by covering the mirror with a tablecloth and turning it towards the wall. The Greencloaks safely make their way to the tower’s top floor, the library, where several small bugs and a large glowing bug are waiting for them.    quote:Bug - *done in a chittering voice by the DM, which was unnerving*“I see you’ve awakened, apprentice. Lady Ash’s plans continue unabated. From the earthquake last year, I see your master’s work served her well. But my children have hatched, and it is time for them to feed.” The glowing bug (a d’ziriak summoned from the Nightmare Lands) proved tough for the Greencloaks, as it dropped Piran, Tam, and Iteru in rapid succession. quote:Poppy - “I don’t think they like your music.” The party eventually exterminated the bug and retrieved the Librum Escorpus from its possession, along with a strange mask carved from bone. While the party recovers from their fight through the tower, Piran asked Tam what exactly his master had been researching. To summarize, Theodûir had been studying volcanic eruptions. He had designed an orb that could safely absorb the energy of such an eruption, or possibly generate one by releasing the absorbed energy inside a dormant mountain. And there had been a volcanic eruption one year prior that had caused Velia’s eidolon Kirian and the paladins with him to go mad as a result of exploring an uncovered ancient temple within the mountain that would eventually become that volcano. After a long rest, the Greencloaks returned to the statue on the ground floor, believing it might be another petrified victim of Adrienne Ash. However, it was only a simple stone guardian that Tam once again quote:The Aberrant Nail can be destroyed only if shattered by Judgment’s Measure while frozen in the First Cold.
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Mar 17, 2024 23:13
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According to my DM, there is no such spell as Summon Candleja
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Apr 9, 2024 13:20
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Emissaries of the Old Ones, Book One Chapter 3 - “Hunting For Heretics / The Oracle’s Pronouncement” X X X X X Table of Contents Link - https://shorturl.at/aiTX1 X X X X X quote:“The most merciful thing in the world, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.” -H.P. Lovecraft X X X X X Previously on Everything In And Around This Tower Is Trying To Kill Us: The newly minted Fallcrest Greencloaks made their way down the Brandywine River to a Wizard’s tower to retrieve a book that would explain how to destroy an ancient sword capable of destroying the locks that prevented a collection of elder beings from reclaiming our world. The party recovered the Librum Escorpus from the tower with the aid of the wizard’s petrified apprentice. The book provided them with a prophecy which stated that the sword could only be destroyed by a weapon sanctified by the Demigod of Death while frozen by the First Cold… X X X X X Prophecy in hand, the Greencloaks split up to gather more information, with Piran, Poppy, and Yllestria heading to the Church of Lethik, Neutral Demigod of Death, to inquire about Fate’s Fulcrum from Soulwarden Talbot Alrenia. According to the Church, Fate’s Fulcrum was the first weapon to be sanctified by Lethik after his ascension to godhood. The weapon had previously been lost for over a century until recovered by Poppy’s father Biff from Ancellyon, a nation of sadistic Sidh over the eastern mountains. However, six years before the present day the weapon, along with several other artifacts, had been claimed by apostates who disappeared underneath the city, where they were rumored to have built a shrine to their apostolic vision of Lethik – whereas the mainline Church of Lethik believed that a body must be given proper burial rites upon death, the apostates believed that once the soul departed, the body may still be put to use. Soulwarden Alrenia provided a further warning, in this case regarding a group called the Deathless, undead heretics who hewed close to the tenants of Annwn, the now-deceased Evil Goddess of Death. Velia and Iteru journeyed to the Temple of Arwin, Good Goddess of Wisdom and Justice, to speak with Truthseeker Katherine Silverbrook about the First Cold. Off the western coast of the continent lay the island of Sear, which vanished from Tanicus for millennia until its reappearance over two decades prior. Until recently, the island was closed to all but royally sanctioned expeditions, although mercenaries, adventurers, and armed forces from other nations landed on Saar as well. The ruins on the island appeared to date back to the creation of the world itself, including a towering statue of Fergus, the deceased God of Crafting. In the base of the tower, a group of adventurers found a single snowflake magically suspended in time – the First Cold, the template for all snowflakes to come. Truthseeker Silverbrook stated that more information on the island and the First Cold could be found on Karinos, formerly Kaern Karn, a bustling port city on the western side of the continent. Going through the sewers is something no adventuring party wants to do yet is something every adventuring party does. In an attempt to make the sojourn as painless and ick-free as possible, the party contacted Fallcrest’s Head Rat Catcher Miles Tuppet.  Tuppet – “Heard rumors of a shrine of some sorts near the Southern Reservoir. Area’s started stinking like the devil past few months too. Then there’s the whole infestation of spiders nearby. Big ones. Talking dog-sized.” Poppy – “That’s better than pony-sized spiders at least.” Tuppet – “Nah, we call specialists for ones that big.”  Tuppet provided wax-sealed bodysuits, waders, and gloves (“one size fits all”) to the Greencloaks before leading them into the sewers with a warning to keep any flaming weapons or combustible spells to the barest of minimums. The party encountered some of the sewer’s denizens, including shadow dogs known as Temagyr and Dream Spiders whose venom could make people hallucinate and turn them into addicts known as shiverheads.    The party eventually encountered a wide channel filled with sewage. While Yllestria summoned material from the Elemental Plane of Wood to make a plank, Piran and Iteru heard an unexpected sound - the rattle of castanets, as two goat-legged halflings (Calignis, or "Darklings") crawled out from a nearby grate, followed by a tall, thin figure shaking a castanet staff, a figure Piran recognized as a Caligni Dancer. “This looks like him,” the Dancer proclaimed, pointing his staff at Piran. “Do what must be done.”     One of the Darklings grabbed the plank and threw it into the water before flashing a cocky, feral grin to the party. In return, Iteru grabbed the plank with his six-fingered Telekinetic Hand and set it back across the channel before using the Hand to throw the Darkling the middle finger. GM - “You’re out of actions so it’s a half-hearted, 2/3rds extension middle finger.” Iteru - “So the Orange Cassidy of middle fingers?” GM - “According to your GM, no professional wrestling references at the table.” The other Darkling as well as the Dancer managed to catch Piran flat-footed, thanks to Piran rolling a critical failure and being cursed by the Dancer. “This one is the quori-born,” the Dancer hissed. Poppy managed to kill one of the Darklings, which exploded in a flash of light that blinded both her and the Dancer. Unfortunately Yllestria missed with a ranged attack and ended up with poop water in her eyes. With Piran on the ropes, Velia broke out a spell called Forced Mercy which made the Dancer’s attack non-lethal for one round, buying time for the party to put it and the other Darkling down. After looting the bodies the Greencloaks moved deeper into the sewer towards the Southern Reservoir. Eventually they came to a narrow bridge. “Shrine’s supposed to be that way, and you don’t mind, gonna wait right here.”  Of course, as the party crossed the bridge more creatures made themselves known to us in the form of Sewer Oozes, who used Filth Wave to knock the party back and drop Piran into the thick, putrid muck below.   Once they made it to the other side of the bridge, the party found a door carved into the stone wall of the sewers. Poppy stepped forward and knocked, receiving no answer, so she pushed open the door. Beyond the door was an antechamber with a pair of hanging cages flanking a bell. Three mummified corpses poked at the desiccated corpses inside the hanging cages with motions more remembered than intentional.    Poppy once again stepped forward and asked one of the zombies to call the priest “or nearest convenient parish leader.” One solid ring of the bell later two gaunt forms, a man and a woman, emerge from the back room and introduce themselves as Sister Dreadshade and Brother Graydoom.  Graydoom - “The apostates are no longer here. Most of them are no longer among the living. Soulbinder Grail has fled to the west, likely to the apostate abode beneath the Sutherland. The hierophant of the Deathless follows them. We wait for his return, confronting any heretics of Death’s Inheritor who enter our temple.” Poppy - “Well, I’m one of those heretics. Bring it.” They did bring it to the party, as we tend to kick off one fight that the GM originally planned as two (“I didn’t expect you guys to ring the bell, but here we are”). Graydoom activated his Aura of Dread, which gave the party the Clumsy condition and made them easier prey for the zombies. Meanwhile, Dreadshade used an ability called Renounce Heretic to counter Velia’s divine magic, only for Sir Kerien to denounce the heretic with his warhammer. Dreadshade went down, only for Graydoom to Harm her back up, only for Piran to drop Dreadshade, only for Graydoom to Harm her back up for her to knock Piran unconscious… Poppy - “You descend upon an endless spiral of death!” Dreadshade - “As one should.” X X X X X As Piran lay unconscious, a vision unfolded before his closed eyes - of a beautiful woman in an amorphous dress floating within the void who came to pass on a dire warning… quote:From beyond the umbral entanglement, Saracco (SAYR ah ko) is reaching. We thought that we'd gone far enough... escaped, but though we became the Enlightened and the Inspired -- the Kalashtar and the Rashtari -- it appears that it was not enough... it will never be enough. A line must be drawn or we will never find peace. X X X X X Fortunately, Iteru was able to get Piran back on his feet. In response to being knocked down but getting up again, Piran critted on a zombie, killing it outright before the crit and turning it into a pile of esoteric goo. As Iteru used Biting Words to take down another zombie while Velia and Poppy focused on Graydoom, Yllestria experienced the duality of the dice, first with a critical failure (Overthrow) that sent his Elemental Blast sailing past Dreadshade until it hit something (thankfully the wall behind her) and then with a critical success (Elemental Might, which let her add electricity damage to the Blast) which put Dreadshade down. With all local undead soon motionless on the ground, Poppy headed for the door Dreadshade and Graydoom had emerged from. Poppy - “I check for traps by grabbing the handle and swinging the door open.” Piran - “Fortunately there wasn’t a trap on the door which read ‘Face Explosive Runes Towards Enemy.’” Behind the door was a small shrine with purple crystals surrounding an altar. Despite their best efforts, the party was unable to discover anything special or unique about the shrine other than its use for the veneration of the tenants of the Deathless.  Iteru - “I’m going to check the sconces on the wall, see if anything happens when I twist them.” GM - “One of the torches turns a quarter inch… because the bolt is loose.” Iteru - “Darn it. Who the heck provides the stuff for this kind of aesthetic anyway? Is there like a wholesaler or something?” Piran - “Gnomes. It’s a known fact that Gnomes own World Market and the Drow run Spencer’s Gifts.” While the party continued the fruitless search, Piran tells them of the vision from his dream visitor and explains that he’s quori-born, a term Yllestria somehow recognized - translated, it means “Dreamperson'' or “Enlightened.” Saracco was their ancient home and they were driven off by the same beings who currently were trying to invade Tanicus. With their journey into the sewers completed, the Greencloaks retreated to the Temple of the Joys for a sorely needed spa afternoon and a much deserved divvying up of the coin and loot.   The plan from this point was to travel from Fallcrest to Karinos in the Southerlands to seek out the apostates holding Fate’s Fulcrum. The journey would normally take over a week, but thanks to the Aedar (dwarves), it’s possible to make the trip in less than a day thanks to the Cograil, a railway that runs from the Aedr capital of Merak to Karinos. The best way to describe the Cograil is “a train that’s wound up and fired like a crossbow from stop to stop,” according to noted travel writer Loic Proups whom the party would eventually meet on the train. The party had five days until the Cograil passed through Fallcrest. Yllestria took the time to provide the Starmetal found on the journey to the Mage Tower to a local blacksmith, Thomadin, who could turn it into something that would allow the Kineticist greater access to the Elemental Plane of Metal. Piran sought out a runesmith who could transfer a potency rune from a looted dagger to his pick. And during one of his performances, Iteru met Melora Ablewood, who either owned the bar he was playing in or was better than whomever owned it. She told him his drumming was “almost competent” and to come back once he’s improved and he might find a Patron.    The time came to depart. As the Cograil shot across the countryside towards Stonebridge, it dawned upon Iteru that once the train passed the crossing, it would mark the first time in nearly five years that he would leave Wintermount. Ever since his arrival, all the bard’s attempts to leave the kingdom had been blocked by various means - a mudslide, a skirmish with hobgoblins, a merchant caravan going broke and leaving its passengers stranded, and in one case a toll booth springing up overnight across the road. Whiskey from Poppy and soothing words from Velia helped calm Iteru down, but an appearance from glowing metal triangles with green eyes quickly ramped his anxiety back up.     Known as Norvi, the shapes were accompanied by creatures that Piran, using Recall Knowledge, recognized as the Remnant - blue-green skin creatures in copper-esque chainmail with deep blue irises who were the first race to use the word Foreclaimer. They’re magically resistant and disintegrated upon death.  Cut off by the Norvi’s sudden appearance, Iteru made for the Cograil’s engine to warn the driver while the rest of the party fought their way to the VIP car at the rear of the train. Inside the VIP car were the dead bodies of two bodyguards, a scared little Saoirsidh girl hiding under a table, two wispy dragon-like creatures, and a faceless devil-like creature Yllestria recognized as a Nightgaunt.    On the other side of the train, Iteru was crossing between cars when he looked up and saw a disheartening sight - an airship descending from the sky, a Remnant Raptor, crewed by more Remnant and captained by a robed Remnant eventually identified as an Overseer.    Iteru quickly reversed course and rushed towards the VIP car, where Sir Kerien had driven his warhammer into the stomach of the Nightgaunt, landing a nasty crit, Crushed Intestines. Poppy - “That’s what killed Houdini, you know.” Yllestria - “Yep, a faceless demon appeared from the void and hauled off on Houdini right in the gullet.” Iteru - “Everyone! There’s an incoming airship with more of those blue guys!” Velia - “And there’s a faceless dragon attacking a little girl right here!” Iteru - “I’ll rephrase - incoming blue guys about to attack full-grown adults!”  The wispy dragons spat black phlegm that snuffed out the light, taking advantage to put down Poppy and Velia. The little girl managed to touch Yllestria, granting Guidance and allowing her to pop the wispy dragons and sending the Nightgaunt retreating through a hole in the roof. As Iteru worked quickly using Battle Medicine to revive Poppy, the little girl proceeded to heal Velia, but not before Velia had a vision of her own. X X X X X quote:A dark-skinned man in the armor of a Knight of the Griffon dives behind a ruined wall as a beam of intense heat sweeps the ground behind him. He reaches for his sword but his hand comes up empty, and his eyes dart over to the weapon laying a dozen feet to his right. He braces himself as a creature resembling a golden helmet with white-feathered wings appears over the rubble, the hot light behind its visor beginning to intensify. X X X X X The train’s weapons finally began to fire, sending projectiles toward the airship, which absorbed some of them with a ring of blue energy.  (the weapons weren’t ballistas, but the GM worked with what he had!) Iteru had finished patching everyone up as best he could when the little girl, who had introduced herself as Annyha Starsong, glanced up at the hole in the ceiling. “There are two incoming on the roof.”  Against their better judgment (save for Velia and Yllestria who were the first up), the Greencloaks climbed onto the roof where a Remnant warrior and the Overseer awaited. The Overseer gave Sir Kerien a curious glance as the spectral eidolon prepared for combat. “We believed such technologies did not exist on this primitive plane. You will be analyzed.” The Overseer flicked his hand, snapping a Psychic Whip towards Poppy. The fight was made more difficult by the fact that movement required a Reflex save to keep one’s balance. It also didn’t help that Annyha had followed the party onto the roof and, as all little girls do in role-playing games, began floating. With her eyes glowing white and Velia keeping hold of her wrist, Annyha called out into the air, reciting a prophecy the party didn’t have time to pay attention to as they were too busy trying to stay on their feet. At one point the Overseer pulled out a deck of cards and slapped one on the warrior, covering it in a shimmer shield of green energy, only for Piran’s warpick to slice through the energy and send the warrior off the train, where it disintegrated in mid-air.  A tense moment came when Yllestria went unconscious and the motion of the Cograil threatened to send her sliding down the roof and in between the moving cars. Fortunately, Iteru got off a Soothe that put the Kineticist back on her feet. The Overseer’s stoic expression faltered slightly as the Greencloaks refused to stay down and Piran crit for a Deep Wound. “You have hindered my ability to kill,” it told Velia when she managed to get off a Forced Mercy. It was Poppy who managed to get the final blow with a crit, landing a Thunder Strike (honestly, the Pathfinder critical success/fail deck is a wonderful thing and I can’t recommend it enough as a player) which put the Overseer and turned him into dust, but not before leaving some loot behind. With the threat passed and the airship retreating thanks to the not-ballistas, the party climbs back into the VIP car where Annyha gives her thanks and formally introduces herself. “My name is Annyha Starsong, Oracle to the Starspeaker of the Saoirsidh. I was traveling to Aelu Derai to speak prophecy to the Moonspeaker of the Lwnasidh. However, they would simply know of the prophecy. You will be able to use it.” (Here, the GM was nice enough to repeat the prophecy, which was the words she had been speaking on the roof during combat with the Overseer). X X X X X Ancient forms from Umbral Shade Seek return to times unmade, Reaching from their malformed lands To open gates through mortal hands. Heroes rise to give them pause, Holding fast to nature’s laws. But from an ally proven true A hidden foe awaits its cue. From the city -- timeless, lost -- Entangled threads of darkness crossed. Through muck and mire the beast will rise To bring awake the Thousand Eyes. X X X X X Velia sighed as the prophecy put her vision into perspective. “While I was unconscious,” she tells the party, “I had a vision of a young woman named Cass fighting in the ruins of a city. Apparently, Arwin was dead and Cass was leading a contingent of warriors against a glowing creature made of eye-covered golden rings.” Velia pulled a locket from around her neck and opened it up, revealing a portrait of a young Sidhborne girl. “This,” she said quietly, “is my daughter Cassia. Cass for short.” Cass was the reason why Velia was so hesitant to leave and head off on a long journey while everyone else in the fledgling Fallcrest Greencloaks seemed eager to go on a grand adventure. Annyha comforted Velia, implying her to trust that Arwin would never ask her to leave her child if it wasn't absolutely necessary.     With the train robbery thwarted, the Cogline stopped briefly in Vale so Annyha could meet her Lwansidh escort before continuing to its final destination in Karinos. Karinos, a sprawling trade city granting access to the interior of the southern portion of the continent, is famous not only for its deep ports but for the Transcontinental Arch, a permanent gateway between the eastern continent of Ceilar and the western continent of Thyrin. Upon the party’s arrival, Piran was approached by a man named Dante Parch, a fellow Greencloak who immediately recognized Piran by his colorful attire. Parch is “played” by Jeffrey Combs of Re-Animator and Star Trek fame. GM - “My goal is by the end of this campaign is to have twelve NPC’s played by Jeffrey Combs, which would be one more role than he’s had in all of Star Trek.” The adventure ended with the party being directed by Parch to the Blue Shoal Inn, a combination inn and seafood restaurant, to recover from their train ride and determine how and where to gather information on the First Cold. CobiWann fucked around with this message at 16:37 on Apr 23, 2024 |
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Apr 23, 2024 16:12
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Lord Awkward posted:♪(Oh Piran boy, Piran boy, Piran boy) He's fantastic not only with using terrain and models but reusing them. So many times we'll see the same tile set(s) but with new accessories / LEDs / furniture minis - like how many times Vasquez Rocks has been used over and over again.
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Apr 23, 2024 17:59
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According to my GM, adventurers are immune to being charged with breaking and entering into tombs, dungeons, castles, and other private domiciles per Gygax and Arneson vs. Greyhawk (1974).
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Apr 25, 2024 12:31
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According to my GM, monarchies are by definition "family owned and operated."
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May 7, 2024 14:20
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