Brucifer's server - water-cooler

What are the options for alignment again in this version?

We'll use the 2-axis D&D alignment: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CharacterAlignment

Character Alignment is a shorthand for a given character's (or religion's, society's, organization's, etc.) moral/ethical outlook on life, the universe and …

Sorry for the novel-length posts, probably only 1 day more of these to establish backstory and then it will be much less to read every day.

So if we continue on to N’Sau we will be going further from our intended destination (Gulluvia) and the rumored palace of the silver princess. The advantage to following Lamdomon is that we may gain some experience or additional intel on the journey. @scigrrl what do you think?

If you look at the hand drawn map, you’ll see the palace in the northwest corner (upper left). There might be some confusion between the Barony of Gulluvia (the general area) and the city of Gulluvia. N’Sau is in the right direction.

Yeah, that sounds good to me, @OrganicNinja (Jason)

10:29 AM

Especially if it's in the right direction. More info and experience is a good thing

…plus I’m basically railroading this one at the start to get you to the dungeon, provide some background, make for an interesting exit from the dungeon if you find the ruby, and give time to Steve @The Dude (Steve), Meridith @RocknSmrfPuff, and Spencer @spencer to create their characters. You’ll be in the dungeon tomorrow definitely. I’ll have this morning’s post done in just a few minutes.

Ok, that was the last novel-length post, I swear!

While talking with Steve this morning, I realized we need a TLDR version if you’re not caught up on reading all of the backstory, so here it is: “Years ago the valley was green, and animals ran free through golden fields of grain. The princess Argenta ruled over this peaceful land and the people were secure and happy. Then one day a warrior riding a red dragon appeared in the skies over the princess’ castle and almost overnight the tiny kingdom fell into ruin. Now only ruins and rumors remain, and what legends there are tell of a fabulous ruby still buried somewhere within the Palace of the Silver Princess.” You are at the Palace now.

@RocknSmrfPuff , I forgot to tell you, if you don't have a chance to post during a day, don't worry about it too much, I'll roll dice for you and have your character on "autopilot"... doing just normal things.

12:27 PM

I'll do today's story post on my lunch between 1:00 and 1:30 pm, so if you still want to make a post today and roll a .turn, do it before 1pm!

FYI, here's a close up of the clip art I chose for each of your characters

Love them!!

8:13 PM

Ummm, I didn't realize we had horses and a mule

Do we need to move back and leave them??

Combat isn’t the only way to deal with some monsters… bribing with the promise of more gold later could be an option. I’m not going to do a TPK because of horses, at least not this early in the game

TPK?

Total Party Kill

Oh!

That's good at least

I'm going to wait until tomorrow morning to update, because there are two competing proposals (Chase - proceed down the corridor, Weert - go through the door). Can the rest of you help decide your next step?

Ooh this room is cool!

Should we let them go? If they attack, they shouldn’t be too much trouble.

Lol my roll

‍♀️

Just FYI: Charm Person Range: 120' Duration: See below Effect: One living person (see below) This spell will only affect humans, demi-humans, and certain other creatures. The victim is allowed a saving throw vs. spells. If the saving throw is successful, the spell has no effect. If it fails, the victim will believe that the spellcaster is its "best friend," and will try to defend the spellcaster against any threat, whether real or imagined. The victim is charmed (edited)

5:47 PM

As a general rule, the spell only affects creatures which look similar to humans in various ways—humans, demi-humans, certain giant-class creatures, etc. It will not affect animals, magical creatures (such as living statues), undead monsters, or human-like creatures larger than ogres (edited)

5:47 PM

If the spellcaster can speak a language that the charmed victim understands, the spellcaster may give orders to the victim. These orders should sound like suggestions, as if "just between friends." The charmed victim will usually obey, but the victim may resist orders that are contrary to the victim's nature (alignment and habits)— he doesn't need to roll anything to resist. A victim will refuse to obey if ordered to kill itself (edited)

5:48 PM

A charm may last for months. The victim may make another saving throw every so often, depending on its Intelligence score. Charm Person Duration If the Victim Has: High Intelligence (13-18): Average Intelligence (9-12): Low Intelligence (3-8): He Saves Every: 1 day 1 week 1 month (edited)

5:48 PM

A victim who is given conflicting orders and impressions by his old adventuring friends and his new "best friend" should react as any person would in real life: with confusion. He will not automatically assume that one party or the other is lying . . . even if the player wants him to. The charm is automatically broken if the spellcaster attacks the victim, whether by spell or by weapon. The victim will fight normally if attacked by the spellcaster's allies. (edited)

Ah, I thought any creature she can speak with. Thanks for the clarification, @Brucifer !

Yes the kobold is speaking your language so you can charm it.

You'll have to explain the rolls to me. I don't know how my spell worked. Is it all those combined? Or one of the dice?

scigrrl

You'll have to explain the rolls to me. I don't know how my spell worked. Is it all those combined? Or one of the dice?

You cast spells automatically when you state you want to cast them. Depending on the spell, there are different dice rolls that have to happen. In the case of "Charm Person", the Kobold had a chance to Save vs. Spells, so I rolled a d20 for it, and rolled a 1. Because of his level (Level 0), he needed to roll 17+ to reject the spell. Remember that at Level 1, you only get to cast one 1st level spell per day. So you won't be able to cast Charm Person again until tomorrow (game time). It's now 11:20am.

1

Let’s be thinking whether we trust these kobolds with the horses - might be good to be un-encumbered by them as we move forward.

OrganicNinja (Jason)

Let’s be thinking whether we trust these kobolds with the horses - might be good to be un-encumbered by them as we move forward.

I know as DM I'm not supposed to weigh in on these things very often... but look at my previous message above about combat not being the only way to deal with monsters. These kobolds seem to be motivated by food and I'm sure money wouldn't hurt too.

Crazy work day, I didn't post this morning, so here it is about 10 hours late...

It seems that I just can't get a normal morning this week... update coming soon.

No worries. We totally get it.

Carrion Crawler???

Ewwww!!! This thing is making me squeamish!

Nice dice rolls @scigrrl for the Spitting Cobra and @The Dude (Steve) for the Carrion Crawler. You both had high initiative rolls so you went first, and high attack and damage rolls. I'm not convinced that all combat will be like this!

(Everyone else)

2

My vote is the door.

Same! The door!

9:40 AM

That may show more excitement than is warranted

Heads I vote door… tails archway…

6:23 AM

I suggest we explore the north corridor at the top of the stairs once we finish searching this place.

2

8:15 PM

I’m clearly in the Chaotic Evil category

…and Jen is Chaotic Neutral!

Lol

All I know now is that I clearly need more monitors

Isn’t that just True Neutral?

Technically I vacillate between true neutral and lawful neutral.

10:36 PM

But isn't it the number of monitors you want inside that really counts??

2

Happy Friday…

4:46 PM

1

So one thing I've noticed about this map is that everything is way out of scale. There is no way those bedrolls should be 12 feet long!

2

We still good to go? Or need to take a break?

Sorry, I’ve been having a hard time posting daily. I’m okay if we take a break.

I'm sorry! A small break would probably be good so I can get into my summer routine.

Ah, so a real life Long Rest?

9:15 PM

1

Hahahahahaha YES

Sorry - past couple days have been bananas and I keep getting distracted when I should be posting. I am good to go whenever y’all are ready to pick it back up. (edited)

4

1

So John Parkes heard about this game through Meridith and Tyler and asked to join today, welcome John @Jetpacks22! Are you all ready to start up again? If so, describe your next steps, do .turn rolls, etc. It’ll give John a day or two to catch up on reading, pick a pre-gen or generate a new character, and I’ll make sure to introduce him into the game via the story.

Welcome, John!! We have been out of town, but I'm good to go now!!

Welcome, John!

Welcome!

Hello Everyone and thank you for allowing me to join, I'm adding my character to the section and then will work to iron out any details to get into this, I apologize for the delay in getting into it. I had some family/personal issues that took my attention. but i think i'm caught up in the story so far.

1

No worries John, we had about a week break, you didn’t slow us down at all

7:25 PM

Should be able to introduce your character to the rest of the party in a day or two

Made it home from camping, more than slightly damp. Nothing like camping to give you some time to think (it didn’t hurt that it rained from 4am to 10am, so lots of time awake thinking in the tent). I now have a plan for Ieng to join the party tomorrow.

1

Shall we see what's behind Door #3?

Now that’s funny, I read your character name as starting with an i not an L

. I’ll fix it on your character token.

lol i think that's my fault i forgot to hold shift when i sent it

What a bad roll. Sorry guys, seems like the dice gods are meting out retribution for my lack of trust in Leng

(edited)

1

The way I see it, we can do one of three things: free the beastie and hope it’s friendly, explore away from it, or kill it. What say you all? (edited)

I’m gonna be honest, the extra unused chains and the fact it’s a cub makes me think we are in for a fight (especially with it yelling). That being said, I don’t love the idea of killing a baby - however, I don’t want to die either

Anyone want to try to feed it some rations?

7:06 PM

I'm out of mine since the kobolds

That’s a good idea - let’s try it - I’ll donate some of mine!

3

No update this morning, since no one posted. I'm happy to put this on pause through the holiday weekend if people are busy.

I'd appreciate it

but my mind will be churning while i'm helping out family over the weekend

Sorry! It's definitely been busy! I just read the update. WHAT?!

10 foot pole, just sayin’

That wasn't AVAILABLE!

1

12:31 PM

OMG... It's in Pack B.

1

We’ll I guess it’s a more exciting game this way (I hope)

‍♀️

12:31 PM

It definitely is. Haha

12:32 PM

Hagar.

12:32 PM

HAGAR

12:32 PM

@OrganicNinja (Jason) you have a 10 foot pole.

Still planning on picking this back up tomorrow morning. In the meantime, if you are a LotR fan, I discovered this over the weekend: https://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=612. There are about 150 strips so be warned if it catches your attention like it did me, time sink

1

scigrrl

@OrganicNinja (Jason) you have a 10 foot pole.

1. How the hell did I miss that? 2. How the hell am I carrying around a 10ft pole?!? (edited)

1

5:47 AM

Any one of you are all welcome to grab the giant pole that is (apparently) hidden in my backpack(how?!) and use it to help rescue me.

(edited)

1

OrganicNinja (Jason)

1. How the hell did I miss that? 2. How the hell am I carrying around a 10ft pole?!? (edited)

I don't know!

12:43 PM

1

1:16 PM

As I was looking through your characters for missile weapons that wouldn’t splash, no one has any except Weert’s dagger. You might keep an eye open to pick any up that you may find.

Yeah, I wanted to use a bow but there weren’t any in the packs. I hope to find one soon.

Just know that having a ten foot pole will absolutely lead to inappropriate innuendo… you’ve been warned

.

1

We will all be waiting with anticipation

(edited)

@The Dude (Steve), @Jetpacks22, Hagar and Weert will still be sitting/lying down in the pool room for another turn. Are you really splitting the party? Or do you want to do something else in this room so everyone can exit together next turn? (Especially with rolling a natural 20 on an activity for Leng!) (edited)

I was thinking about going once everyone was ready. I will look for hidden doors or something.

1

thanks for pointing that out, i forgot, i'll look around...don't know if i want to heal right now

1

2

Potion of ESP: This potion will have the same effect as the magic-user spell ESP. The user can "hear" the thoughts (if any) of any one creature within 60' by concentrating for one full round in one direction. The user can "hear" through 2' of rock, but a thin coating of lead will block the ESP. ESP* Range: 60' Duration: 12 turns Effect: All thoughts in one direction This spell will allow the spell-caster to "hear" thoughts. The spell-caster must concentrate in one direction for six rounds (one minute) to hear the thoughts (if any) of a creature within range. The spell allows the spell-caster to understand the thoughts of any single living creature, regardless of the language. The spell does not allow the caster to hear the thoughts of undead creatures. If more than one creature is within range and in the direction the caster is concentrating, the spell-caster will "hear" a confused jumble of thoughts. The spell-caster can sort out the jumble only by concentrating for an extra six rounds to find a single creature. ESP will not be hampered by any amount of wood or liquid, and will penetrate as much as two feet of rock, but a thin coating of lead will block the spell. Targets can make a saving throw vs. spell to avoid the spell effects.

8:57 AM

First a note on wands in general: A wand is a thin, smooth stick about 18" long. A wand can only be used by a magic-user or an elf. Each use of a power costs one charge unless noted otherwise. Each item may be used once per round at most. Wand of Secret Door Detection: The user may find any secrert door within 20', using one charge per secret door found.

Ooooohhhh, that potion is AWESOME!

Why am I so nervous about this key??? Why???

Could be dangerous. That’s probably why.

Hagar is spending a lot of time on the “down low” - does this count as a short rest?

2

1

Lol Sorry, forgot combat

scigrrl

Lol Sorry, forgot combat

No worries, I rolled a 20 for you!

Thanks!

Okay… so now it’s a long rest!

2

so i was going to do cure light wounds...but is that just pulled from my dot turn roll? or do i need to roll seperately from that one?

i might have messed that up....but hopefully not too bad?

Jetpacks22

i might have messed that up....but hopefully not too bad?

You're fine, I'll use your combat roll for initiative

BTW, this is probably a good approximation of how your party would fare against a single 10th level Fighter, you are all 1st level, remember. That said though, Krislee did have a critical hit that would have paralyzed the fighter if he had been real, and not an illusion. As a group, you knocked him down from 49 HP down to 25 HP in 4 rounds.

1

The dice are not in my favor my, friends

1

@OrganicNinja (Jason), I so wanted to go off-script and have the Fighter re-appear when you tried to pick up the sword... but that would probably make you think your DM is out to get you.

Lol - I fully expected that outcome and only proceeded because I knew the situation was non-lethal. I don’t think the DM is out to get me - I realize that Hagar makes questionable choices, but bad decisions sometimes make for good stories

I love it.