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Golden Bee posted:Why would you quote a multi thousand word post, with all the pictures, just to add one word?
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Sep 18, 2017 01:22
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Golden Bee posted:Why would you quote a multi thousand word post, with all the pictures, just to add one word? Because I got a call and had to leave?
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Sep 18, 2017 03:20
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I related the story of Dr.McHeadbutt. to my husband just a bit ago, and couldn't stop laughing to tell him. It's just one of the stories from this thread I think of from time to time. Thanks, thread!
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Sep 18, 2017 04:56
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CobiWann posted:the trumpet of the archangel ... Coronet of Az Speaking of typos, I think that's supposed to be Cornet, since I thought you already got the guy's hat? (Unless that's the joke - I've definitely missed stupider ones)
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Sep 18, 2017 08:21
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Samizdata posted:Because reasons
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Sep 18, 2017 09:22
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PMush Perfect posted:You realize you can shorten or change the text in the quote and the link still works, right? Yeah, but I started the response and had to leave as mentioned earlier. I am sorry to anyone offended.
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Sep 18, 2017 09:38
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Not offended, just a bit rough scrolling through a post that big multiple times on mobile.
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Sep 18, 2017 09:39
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FROOOOOOOOG posted:Speaking of typos, I think that's supposed to be Cornet, since I thought you already got the guy's hat?
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Sep 18, 2017 10:39
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The toblerone of Az.
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Sep 18, 2017 11:21
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FROOOOOOOOG posted:Speaking of typos, I think that's supposed to be Cornet, since I thought you already got the guy's hat? We have the Circlet of Az, and you're right - I misspelled Coranet/Coronet the whole time. Eh, screw it. Adds character. Splicer posted:I'm now reading it as the cornetto of Az Dareon posted:The toblerone of Az. "You got red on you." *stabs repeatedly*
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Sep 18, 2017 12:33
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DicktheCat posted:I related the story of Dr.McHeadbutt. to my husband just a bit ago, and couldn't stop laughing to tell him. It's just one of the stories from this thread I think of from time to time. Isn't that the character who tried to head butt a bundle of dynamite? Comedy gold
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Sep 19, 2017 05:34
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FYI, I’m going to be breaking these up a little bit – mainly because our DM is dropping “WHAM” moment after “WHAM” moment on us and they just make awesome cliffhangers… ***** Last time on Tanicus - oh [BLEEP], who gave an ancient green dragon a godspark?!? ***** The question would have to wait just a little bit longer as the party was taken aback and completely horrified by the sight of a huge ancient green dragon bursting with newly acquired divine energy. Falozar, newly crowned demigod, reached out with one claw, grabbed Taleissyn, and leaped into the air well out of range of the rest of the party. Even our silver dragon ally (turns out her name was Paige) was cautious about going after Falozar, no matter how much Falinrae urged her on. The DM took Taleissyn's player out to the back deck for a few minutes for a conversation at this point. Once that conversation was over, the DM motioned to Cullis' player to follow him down to the basement. Cullis calmly gets up from the table and tells us that after the session two weeks ago, he told the DM over IM that while everyone was distracted by Falozar getting the godspark, Cullis was running into the lair and seeing if he can grab the Cornet and maybe grab something from his treasure horde to help us fight off Falozar or pull an emergency evacuation. Of course, the DM agreed ("with glee, I should point out"). The pair goes into the basement while we're all asking Taleissyn what the heck was going on. She said she'd tell us once Cullis' player was back upstairs because "time is a factor here." So a couple more minutes pass...and we hear Cullis' player laughing maniacally. He comes back upstairs shaking his head as the DM sits back down. "Alright," Taleissyn says at this point, "We are on a major time crunch here. Falozar has given us ten minutes to go inside, grab whatever we can from his treasure horde including the Cornet, and vacate the Dragon Isles. After ten minutes, we are fair game once again." Falozar growls at us. "Indeed. Ten minutes, not one second more. And if you take nothing more than the Cornet I will be...offended." He turns back to the cave and gives a loud roar that shakes the ground. From the lair soars a majestic female green adult dragon, wings spread and blood dripping from her mouth. Falozar leaps into the air and joins her, taking up formation about the battleground, watching as the party sprints into the cave. Inside is a huge treasure horde, piles upon piles of gold, gems, scrolls, magical items...and a bright red smear of bones and bloody at the foot of the horde, with the Circlet of Az sitting on top of a cracked halfling skull. As Aeana gathers Cullis' remains including the Circlet the rest of us, including the Bard NPC Keinan Dragonhall, are digging through the treasure horde as best we can (Varis is using Mage Hand to scoop everything and anything he can into the party's Portable Space) while Paige keeps a lookout in case Falozar decides to change his mind and gas us all while we're in an enclosed space. Falinrae manages to find the Cornet near the middle of the pile just as we're starting to really cut it close. Our emergency evacuation plan was to once again teleport to Abeforth's in Highspire, but as we were getting together for the teleport spell, Ksena's magic mirror activates. On the other end is the immortal bard Sagan Pennywhistle, and at the moment he appears to have been through a bit of a scrape, his face covered in cuts and bruises. quote:
***** In one of the early updates I mentioned the Temple of Io in Springtide. Tanicus was created through the actions of three primordial beings - Io the embodiment of Order, Kaos the embodiment of Chaos, and Un the embodiment of Balance. Io and Kaos were husband and wife, their children became the first of the gods (Seane, Dyanae, Bile, Roan, Emanyn, Fergus, and Annwn), Seane led a rebellion and destroyed Kaos, leaving only his hand behind and spilling his blood to give birth to magic, Un departed Tanicus for parts unknown, and Io's children took direct action in shaping the lives of the newly formed humanoid races. Eventually her temples were abandoned and she was all but forgotten, supplanted by her sons and daughters. Legend had it she departed Tanicus to seek out Un's final fate. Our party had found one of her abandoned temples in the Sidhe city of Springtide in a run-down section behind the bigger, more popular temples. It was inside that we fought a demon pretending to be an archangel and found an Iron Golem blocking the way down into the bowels of the temple. At the time, our party wasn't strong enough to take on an Iron Golem so we left it alone. A few sessions later we discovered that the Iron Golem was a creation of Sagan Pennywhistle's, but he never told us just WHAT the golem was meant to be guarding. We appear in the middle of Io's temple next to Sagan and a destroyed Iron Golem. "drat thing tried to kick my rear end," he explained, before looking over our party and giving us a quick count. "Alright, I recognize the Dragonhall and I recognize the dragon...nice to see you again Paige...but you're missing a halfing. Where's Cullis?" Aeana holds up the bloody sack with his remains, causing Sagan to shake his head. "I really hope you have a scroll of True Resurrection handy, because the last time I checked Annwn still isn't taking requests." We don't have a scroll handy...but what we do have is the fact that Reincarnation still works, and THAT we have a scroll of. Aeana prepares the spell and it goes off without a hitch. The DM takes Cullis' player back into the basement and makes him roll for his new race... quote:"OH YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" ...and he comes back upstairs and sits down, looking...that mix of amused and pissed off all role-players know incredibly well. As the body starts to reform, Cullis explains what happened to him. quote:
The body finishes coming back together and forming...and Cullis sits up. He's no long a halfling. But he's still small as he's come back to life as a Greensidhe, the small, tiny Sidhe that remind people of small green-skinned children. And he's the spitting image of... quote:"TWINSIES! ...Aeana as she bounds over and hugs him tightly. "We look like brother and sister! Oh, you and I are going to bicker and argue like Varis and Ksena! It's going to be awesome!" At this point, Taleissyn explains what Falozar had told her. As a green dragon Falozar worshipped Nephys, the Plague-Bringer, goddess of disease, despair, and famine. It was her godspark that had been fused with him, and with it the realization that since he held a godspark, Falozar now not only had a target on his scaly back painted there by Az, but also had something to fight for as he was now a demigod. Realizing that our party was going to eventually be fighting alongside of him against Az, he called a truce with Taleissyn and allowed us to gather as much as we could from his horde. "I'm a demigod now," he told Taleissyn. "My current horde is but a drop in the bucket of what I will eventually claim." Here's the kicker. As the party's worrying that Az is now going to add plagues and disease to his arsenal of weapons, Taleissyn shakes her head. "It wasn't Az who slew Nephys. It was Catira." Catira, who I've mentioned before as the Lady of Pain and goddess of vengeance, was actually once the Big Bad in a previous Tanicus campaign. She worshipped Qord and in his name slew a great number of Sidhe, including the ancestors of those who would become and evil and revenge-seeking Ancellyn. It was because of her acts of incredible evil and freeing Qord from a celestial prison that she was granted a godspark...but not by Qord, who instead choose to give HIS godspark to Nephys, which backfired as Nephys sought to overthrow Qord as god of the undead. It was Caradoc who granted Catira a godspark because he saw just how PISSED off she was at Qord and thought it would be funny to give her the power to meet him on equal terms...which ended up with Catira taking Qord as her lover, berating him once she's done with him and throwing him away until she needs him again. Catira nursed a thousand-year old grudge against Nephys, and when the time was right jumped her and slew her with the help of her subjects the Ancellyn. And as the ultimate insult, Catira denied Nephys' followers most of her godspark, instead passing out what Falozar didn't get to HER followers to make even more demigods. All because the right deity didn't make her a deity. Gods, man. They're WEIRD. So with that piece of information to give us nightmares, it's Sagin's turn to...well, lay it all out for us. quote:This temple to Io was built thousands and thousands of years ago. I should know. I was its foreman. I laid the foundation, I set the stones, and I gave the command word to place the Iron Golem to ensure nobody ever sought out what was underneath this temple. When we constructed this temple, we discovered a series of lava tubes that led down to several volcanic chambers. I told people that I put the Iron Golem in place to make sure anything down there never came up into the temple - fire elementals, salamanders, you know the whole deal with catacombs and fire. But there's something else down there...someone else actually. According to Sagan, Io saw that her presence in the world was fading and decided that it was time to step aside and allow her children, led by Seane, their moments. She descended deep into the earth to sleep and in time her name was all but forgotten. "Here's the thing with Seane...he always was a Mama's Boy," Sagan told us. "He tells the gods that they can't hide in Elysium and kicks them out so they're forced to fight Az here on Tanicus...and then tells them not to strike right away but to harbor and marshal their forces until the time is right. And what happens? Caradoc and Arwin go to war, Catira knocks off Nephys, and Az slays a whole bunch of gods, including his sister and wife Dyanae. And instead of Seane getting off his butt and leading the counterattack, he's off somewhere doing nothing at all instead of kicking rear end and avenging his dead sister-wife. I hate to say this because there's a drat good chance this is going to change everything, and I mean everything, but I think Io needs to have a long talk with her children or else there isn't going to be a Tanicus left to save." He motioned to the Iron Golem, or rather all the pieces of it scattered over the floor of the temple. "I tried to use the control word to go talk to her myself, but apparently that counts as interfering with the gods and that's a big no-no with regards to my immortal curse. That means, if you guys think it's a good idea, you're the ones who are going to have to wake her up and ask for her assistance in rousing Seane to war." We didn't use the term "good idea" so much as the term "what choice have we?" ***** Sagan departs with Paige, who offers to give him a ride back to Highspire. "Great," our DM jokes, "I just sent an immortal, charismatic bard off with an adult silver dragon. The next campaign will have a new bloodline of silver-blooded dragon Sorcerers, mark my words."   Past two bronze doors carved with the story of Tanicus' creation, our party descended into a series of lava tubes. Along the way, we encountered what the DM called a crystalisk. Imagine a basilisk, but instead of Petrify its eyes had the random effects of a Prismatic Spray if you locked gazes with it. Luckily for us, Aeana's player managed to bypass this encounter with Animal Handling, decided it was so incredibly cute that it couldn't possibly mean us any harm and taming it to the point where it merged back with the rock and allowed us to pass without incident. After your standard lava-themed encounter with some salamanders...      ...our party came to a large crevice filled with lava hot enough that for once in a role-playing game convection damage from the residual heat was a real possibility. Crafted into the rock on the other side of the crevice was a pair of large platinum doors carved with a series of runes and the holy symbol of Io, while carved into the ground right in front of the door appeared to be some kind of ritual circle. Taleissyn tried to use her magic to make a bridge across to the other side, only for the bridge to get dispelled while it (luckily, not the party!) was halfway across. From the lava appeared a trio of efreets, who loudly proclaimed that whatever lay behind the door belonged to them, as soon as they figured out how to open it, and that a bunch of adventurers weren't going to step in and take credit for a decade's worth of hard work.    Our party didn't have the range to take the efreets on, but they pelted us with fire and lava as we ducked for cover. Taleissyn decided that we need some firepower of our own and decided to use a brand new spell she had just learned, Conjure Fae...   ...which, according to the "Random Fae Table" that the DM just happened to have handy, ends up bringing us Baba Yaga herself. And her idea of "helping" was to bring everyone on the table together into a tightly packed 60 foot circle. During the fight, our Water Elemental Bubbles managed to Tidal Wave one of the efreets into the ritual circle carved in front of the door. The efreet immediately disappeared, reappearing a turn later a mite ticked off as being banished by what turned out to be a very powerful anti-magic zone. The party manages to send the efreets back to where they came from, and Baba Yaga almost makes Cullis fall into the lava-filled crevice by holding a candy cane JUST out of reach before Taleissyn sends her back to the Feywild. The platinum doors refuse to budge. They physically won't move and it's impossible to move them by any sort of magical means (although any items "turned off" by the anti-magic field will return to normal upon being brought out of the circle). We try calling out to Io, but no answers comes from beyond the door. It's not until Aeana walks up, softly knocks on the door, and says "Io, your son needs you" that the doors slowly swing open. A dark sloping passageway lies beyond, and slowly shuffling up the ramp is an old man, hunched over, leaning on a staff with a glowing astrolabe shaped into the world of Tanicus, including all the islands and both continents. He beckons us down the ramp and as we come to a flat surface and a large chasm dropping straight down into the earth, Ksena realizes that the astrolabe is actually the holy symbol of a god, one we had seen at the Conclave in New Hope. Her realization is confirmed when at the edge of the chasm the old man turns into a huge copper dragon - the true form of Lendus, the Draconic God of Earth. We climb onto his back and in one giant leap Lendus springs across the chasm and takes us to the other side. He lands at the foot of another ramp, this one leading up to another set of large platinum doors that are in the process of slowly swinging open. "Good luck, Lendus wishes us. "I have to go back to being the continents now. It's a god thing, don't even ask." He takes off into the darkness as the party climbs the ramp and enters a large chamber, 300 feet by 300 feet. High on the walls are a series of runes lining the room that softly pulse with light green energy, and in the very center of the room is a circle of the same runes glowing with the same energy. It's Varis who ends up walking into the circle and politely calling out to Io. In return, a bright spotlight shone down around him from the ceiling. A voice called out to the party, speaking in the voice of the PC's mothers (or in the case of Taleissyn the closest thing to a positive maternal figure she's ever had - her order's drill instructor). quote:Io - "Why are you awakening me?" The green light condenses into a swirling form that slowly turns into an incredibly beautiful and regal woman in white robes. quote:"I am Io. I am Order. I have been forgotten by all, including my children. Yet you have been sent to seek me out by one who used to worship me before recorded time. Say your piece." Our plea to Io boils down to the core concept that her children are dying, but Io simply smiles sadly at us. "Eons ago, Seane led his brothers and sisters, the children of Kaos and myself, in rebellion against their father. As they destroyed his primordial and before they sealed his Hand away, Kaos cursed them. He issued a prophecy that as he was betrayed and destroyed by his children, so would his children be destroyed by one they betrayed. Az served my children, served the gods, and was betrayed and locked away in the body of the very thing he despised. My children, the seven beings who were the first gods of Tanicus, will be destroyed due to Az's assault. His vengeance is absolute, and the prophecy of a primordial is binding. It is why Un never made a promise, uttered a prophecy, or even cursed another being. And I, in anger, have only issued one prophecy in my entire existence." Her smile somehow gets even sadder. "As Seane slew his father, so shall Seane someday slay his mother. It may be eons from now, centuries, perhaps as soon as tomorrow. But he will kill me, and in that moment become truly alone." This rocks us back on our heels. If there was one constant with the gods, it's family ties, and Seane loves his mother. Seane slaying Io? Would it be to gather her power, her own godspark to kill Az? Would it be in a fit of anger and pique of jealousy? More importantly, was Az himself aware of this prophecy? quote:Io - "Az's assault on the gods are a result of the consequences of their actions. My children MUST learn that their actions have ramifications, including their potential demise. To step in now and simply wipe Az from existence, were I truly capable of such a thing...what lesson would my children learn? None. They will continue with their petty jealousies and rivalries, not just among my children but among my grandchildren and their children. The fate of the gods is at stake and yet they turn on each other and slay one another for petty power. I will not step in. They will stand and fall on their own." Io is quiet for a few moments at this plea. quote:"There is a price for my aid. My children will pay it, but YOU, you mortals who are desperate to aid them, will have to make the ultimate decision. If I interfere, my very presence will upset the celestial order in ways you can't possibly imagine. If I aid you, be aware of what will happen. Demigods will become gods. My grandchildren will grow in power and strength as their godsparks tap into the essence of my being simply by virtue of my proximity to them.
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Sep 19, 2017 18:11
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Well poo poo. That is a hell of a decision to have to make!
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Sep 20, 2017 01:48
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"Look, I see how this is all gonna end. Can't you just cut to the chase, make us here the new gods, and we'll roll on out from there?"
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Sep 20, 2017 02:41
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"Do it. These jokers have been committing suicide by hubris already."
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Sep 20, 2017 03:11
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I wonder what the consequence of this would be:quote:And my eldest children - Seane, the Golden Orb, god of the sun... Your GM seems pretty creative so who knows? That could have interesting consequences for your world and cosmology.
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Sep 20, 2017 03:43
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And that's how Tanicus became a secular planet with scientific laws.
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Sep 20, 2017 03:48
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"And that's how the Sun died and we're all going to freeze to death next week."
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Sep 20, 2017 04:37
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Lemniscate Blue posted:"And that's how the Sun died and we're all going to freeze to death next week." "Let us pray to the Lightning Lord that his fire may rain from the sky and at least let us die warm."
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Sep 20, 2017 06:06
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At least we can hazard a guess why Io's most devoted daughter might end up killing him in the future
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Sep 20, 2017 06:17
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As an aside, Do we know what level the characters are now? The campaign seems too epic-y for them to still be in their teens.
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Sep 20, 2017 06:33
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Agrikk posted:As an aside, We just hit level 15 at the end of the last session (which I'm writing up now, meaning I'll be all caught up until THIS weekend's session), and the GM said that should all go as planned we'll be ending this campaign at level 17. Meaning Varis will have access to Wish. 
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Sep 20, 2017 12:55
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Previously on Tanicus – The party flees a newly created green dragon demigod, a god dies however this time at the hands of another god, and the primordial goddess of Order reveals the price for her assistance against Az… ***** As the party stands in shock, Io proceeds to clarify her previous words. The gods will not be destroyed or killed, and they will still hold sway over their individual domains and areas of responsibility. But their ability to grant spells and powers to their clerics will be taken away, as will their ability to directly affect human affairs on Tanicus. Instead, their sole focus will be on maintaining their responsibilities - the sun will still shine, the oceans will still rise and fall, and the souls of the dead will be judged and passed on. It was a stripping of their divine powers down to the bare bones. The names of the seven gods would still be known to Tanicus and they would still have their monks and monasteries to record the history and study the philosophies of the gods to ensure they wouldn't be forgotten as Io was, however they would not be able to talk or interact with mortals in any capacity. It would be up to the children of the gods (among them Arwin, Caradoc, Myrddin, and Reva) to take their parents' place. It’s Ksena who is hit hardest by Io’s words. Not only has she spent her life dedicated to Emanyn, her husband is also a monk of Bile. Both gods would be stripped of their power to directly affect Tanicus should the party decide to let Io wake up. A group of six mortals would be making a decision that would rewrite the entire cosmology of Tanicus and seven gods would be able to do nothing to stop it. She steps away to meditate and ponder her decision. Aeana, a direct descendant of Dyanae herself, says she can’t make a decision since her goddess is already dead. Cullis throws his hands and says ”this is WAY above my pay grade…but there’s no way in hell Cymber (goddess of secrets and mystery) would pass up a chance for a promotion if she’s still alive and kicking. So you know which way I’m gonna vote.” Falinrae and Taleissyn come at the problem from a military point of view. ”Io gives us a better chance of winning. It’s just that simple. Tulani didn’t sacrifice herself for Az to win.” "And let's be honest here. You know the Queen of Air and Darkness is going to be itching for a seat at the table and there isn't any way I'm crossing her. I'm in." Varis looks over at Ksena, whose meditations have turned into quiet sobbing, and shakes his head. ”The gods had their shot. If it’s because of their actions that the people of Tanicus are suffering…step up or step aside. We’re stepping up, and they need to step aside.” After a few minutes, Ksena gets to her feet and comes over. ”Emanyn sends his greetings, Io.” Io nodded with a small smile. ”Time and tide will erode even the mightiest stone. So it shall be with the gods.” Io nods. ”It will take me sometime to awaken. You will need to continue your quest to obtain Az's artifacts before the archangel may lay claim to them. Even I do not know where the artifacts have been hidden; they have been placed in locations of such great evil not even Order may lay eyes upon them. But I do know who has hidden the Bow of Divine Wrath. I shall send you to them now.  A soothing green light drifts over the party, and the cold confined air of being under the earth soon gives way to a warm mountain freeze smelling faintly of ash as the party finds itself at the foot of the path heading to the Dawnspire Monastery, home to the monks of Seane. ***** We know we're at the Dawnspire Monastery because of the sign...  ...the birds being phoenixes.    Two smaller phoenixes circle the top of the monastery while a huge phoenix sits atop a steam vent. Dawnspire Mountain is one of the tallest mountains on Tanicus, a semi-active volcano where the monks of Seane have built their place of worship, study, and training. A winding staircase has been carved into the mountainside, and with no other visible means of reaching the summit the party begins their ascent through plumes of smoke, fountains of fire, and the watchful gaze of the phoenix. The trip up is truly an endurance test of Constitution and Dexterity checks, and on our trip to the top every member of the party (including Varis' familiar) takes a large chunk of fire damage except for Cullis. Near the top of the mountain, two figures come out onto the roof of the gatehouse - an orange-clad monk (Falinrae - "You realize Ksena you're going to have to fight her at some point, it's in the Monk bylaws") and a tall armor-clad figure with flaming wings and a brass longbow. The party recognizes him as Daelen the Phoenix Lord, one of the most powerful of Seane's demigods, and his sentient longbow Pendalein. Daelen takes aim at Cullis and fires, encasing him in solid amber just as Cullis avoids the last fire trap and escapes unscathed. As Cullis sits frozen in amber, Daylinn calls out to us and asks if we'd like our friend freed. Falinrae - "I don't know - somewhere I'm sure there's a Storm Giant who would pay a good bit for a necklace charm of a halfling encased in amber." Daelen takes aim again and shoots the amber, causing it to explode and for Cullis to finally take damage. The party makes it to the gates without further incident, but the orange-clad monk (High Abbott Lu, Grandmaster of the Sun and head monk of the order) tells the party that the monastery is closed. When we tell her that we've come seeking Seane, she tells us that he is not seeing anyone. When we tell her that we have a message for Seane from Io, she tells us that she will bring the message to him for us. After a bit more back-and-forth, Ksena steps to the front of the party. "Grandmaster of the Sun, our party comes before you seeking only rest and sanctuary." At this, Lu nods and the gates swing open to allow our party inside.  (I was asked to include this picture because the DM LOVES this gate and uses it every chance he gets) As we take a moment to rest, it hits Cullis to ask what the date was. It turns out there for the two hours we spent in Io's chamber, FIFTEEN days had passed on Tanicus. This made our party's need to talk to Seane even more urgent, so Ksena went right ahead and told Lu everything that had transpired in Io's chamber...right down to Io's price for assistance and her prophecy that Seane would slay her. This got Lu's attention, and she promised us that we would have a place to rest while she went and petitioned Seane to see us. As Lu and Daylinn turned to leave, Cullis spoke up. quote:
***** After three hours, Lu returns and tells us that Seane will see us. She leads us into the tallest tower in Dawnspire Monastery and takes us up ten stories to the top. Now, the party is expecting to see Seane. The God of the Sun. The Golden Orb. Tanicus' answer to Zeus, Amaterasu, Huitzilopochtli. We're talking radiance and power and to tremble in his presence. Instead, the room is dark, save for a patch of indirect sunlight streaming through an east-facing window. It's completely empty of anything save for one high-backed wooden chair. Sitting in that chair, staring out the window, sits a tall-but-still-human sized man with bronze skin and wearing the kind of garments one would wear underneath plate armor. The armor itself is nowhere in sight, nor are there any weapons, tapestries, anything that one would expect to find in the mortal throne room of the deity considered the leader of the gods. As he sits there, hand on his chin, brooding, never once turning to face us, he speaks in what was nothing more than a strong-but-normal voice. quote:Seane - "I know why you are here. And I know what my mother said to you and what decision your party made and what that means for me and my brothers and sisters. THAT is the only reason I am telling you where I hid the Bow of Divine Wrath. It will be your punishment. ***** "You will need to move quickly should you wish to have any chance of success. The Lich King is currently away from his citadel." With that, Seane raises a hand and casually dismisses us. OK, there was NO surprise among the party that we were going to have to deal with the Lich King in some capacity. When it comes to "great evil" the two greatest evils on Tanicus are Pyrefang and the Lich King, and the Lich King is currently allied with Taliessyn's aunt. What caught us by surprise was how Seane was acting. Granted, his wife and sister Dyanae had been killed by Az. Shouldn't have that been enough to get him off his butt and organizing the counterattack against Az? Seane is THE Warrior God on Tanicus, someone who could take on Caradoc and Arwin at the same time and emerge victorious. The guy could have given Arthur Dayne or Garet Jax pause. But instead he was sitting in his tower, brooding, and had been for over a month according to our calendar. Myrddin was the one doing all the work that Seane should have been doing... So Aeana hugged him. Aeana, a direct mortal descendant of Dyanae, walked right up to him and gave him a hug. Everyone took a deep breath as Seane turned his head slightly, looking at her without looking at her. After a moment, he held out his hand. "The dagger." Aeana reached into her bag and handed Seane the dagger that Caradoc had given her, the one that was to slay six helpless beings. He placed it on the mantle and turned back to look out the window. "Leave." ***** Time of the essence - not only because of the "loss" of fifteen days but because the Lich King is currently away from his citadel. After consulting a map, the party decides to teleport the town of Sorrow's End. Early in the campaign (before Varis and Ksena joined), the party had cleared a ruined mage's tower of its demonic inhabitants. Over time they had removed the demonic influences and hired a cyclopean NPC to serve as the seneschal to oversee its renovation. We teleport to the circle located in the basement only to find ourselves standing in six inches of ash. The three floors and roof of the tower are completely gone, the walls are scorched, and the skeleton of a cyclops is nailed sixty feet above us into the stonework. Aeana flies to the front door a story above us and looks outside to see that Sorrow's End has been completely obliterated. The three levels of the tiered town have collapsed on top of one another, and the temple district has been flattened entirely. Once we've removed the body of the cyclops from the wall the party uses a basement door that teleports to the tower's "garden" in the undercity of Sorrow's End. The undercity is also a charred wreck, however there were a dozen survivors who had been scavenging from the ruins of the city above. As we provide what assistance we could, the survivors explain that a few months ago the tower had suddenly turned into a Roman candle. Balefire had erupted from the roof and windows, incinerating whatever had been inside. It took some calendar to work to discover that the tower had been destroyed a day after our party had released the Feywild and caused the destruction of the Ancellyn - possible revenge by Taliessyn's grandmother for denying her a powerful army. Two weeks prior to our arrival, the mages of the city had left to help contain the wild magic of the Wilderlands, and as such there was no one left to defend the city when a host of burning angels descended upon it. The angels destroyed every building and slew nearly every citizen. The only reason the survivors escaped was because they chose to brave the "haunted" tower before the angels could find them. The survivors were currently attempting to gather what supplies they could before trying to make a decision - trying to survive in the ruins or make the three day trip through a spider-infested forest to the town of Maplewood. Luckily for them and for the party, not only was Maplewood on the way south towards the mountains and the undead lands beyond, Varis knew the mayor of Maplewood, as did Taleissyn, Falinrae, and Cullis. The three of them knew her as a small-time crime lord more concerned with a low profile and enjoying the good life, while Varis knew her as Kedrea, sorcerer and member of the Council of Seven. ***** After a quick magical phone call to Kedrea to get the key to her teleportation circle, the party took one of the survivors while leaving behind several days’ worth of provisions for them to survive. The teleportation circle was located in what turned out to be a cramped and hidden compartment underneath the town's gallows, an easy method for disposing of dead bodies and faking a criminal's death. After ransacking the general store for as much winter gear, rations, horses, and clearing them out of their healing potions, we set up the survivor in Maplewood's inn after paying for room and board for an entire year (thus giving me as a player my first real taste of the high-level D&D economy when I can put 70 gold on a bar, tell the innkeep the guy is good for a year, and the innkeep is thinking of retirement...and not to cross the new guest since he's with a guy with a dragon around his shoulders and several people in plate armor), along with giving Kedrea some gold plus a "finder's fee" to hire some adventures to go back to Sorrow's End and either escort the survivors to Maplewood (and from there a new place to live) or to help clear out a portion of Sorrow's End for them to live and possibly rebuild... Varis - "OK, remember the old Gold Box game Pool of Radiance? Where you spend the first part of the game clearing out the slums so the people of Phlan can resettle it?" Falinrae - "You're a high level adventurer now. This is where you either take on the gods or open your own business, and sometimes that involves hiring low level adventurers." Heading south, we pass through the lands claimed by the Barbarians of the Broken Tribes, once known as the nation of Sjornia. Everywhere we pass through the party sees signs of a hasty exit. Not just empty towns but campfire sites and the passage of livestock herds being forced to the north. The weather quickly turns cold as we pass from the forested plains to snow-capped foothills to mountains completely covered in snow. We push through the mountain passes and slowly begin to descend into the tundra of the frozen wastes, the salt air from the southern oceans stinging against our covered faces. Eventually, we come to a series of crevices...and get our first look at the servants of the Lich King.     This just BEGS for a fireball, and Varis is just the guy to do it, along with Taleissyn and her Necklace of Fireballs. We creep as close we can as the skeletal dragon (not a dracolich thank GOD) crawls back and forth, with the other undead just swaying and moaning in place. At Falinrae's signal, Varis and Taleissyn drop their Fireballs right in the middle of the pack... ...only for a crackling blue wall of energy to spring up and absorb both blasts. And then all hell broke loose.      
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Sep 20, 2017 17:33
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I think you put more effort into your write-ups than I put into prepping a session for games I run. Thanks, they're fantastic.
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Sep 20, 2017 17:36
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I think it's just begging for MORE fireballs.
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Sep 20, 2017 18:12
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CobiWann posted:We just hit level 15 at the end of the last session (which I'm writing up now, meaning I'll be all caught up until THIS weekend's session), and the GM said that should all go as planned we'll be ending this campaign at level 17. Meaning Varis will have access to Wish. Yeah, no. Wish is merely a mechanic to ease DMs loving over parties guilt-free, while wasting large portions of actual game time having the PCs trying to create a safe Wish. Samizdata fucked around with this message at 19:36 on Sep 20, 2017 |
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Sep 20, 2017 19:19
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Samizdata posted:Yeah, no. Wish is merely a mechanic to easy DMs loving over parties guilt-free, while wasting large portions of actual game time having the PCs trying to create a safe Wish. Our DM has very specific rules for Wish - 25 words or less, and you can't "pre-game" your Wish if it's from a scroll. If you cast it from a scroll you have two minutes to come up with what you want to say and how you want to say it. Besides, all Varis wants to do with it is use it to cast any level 1-8 spell from ANY spell list in the game...
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Sep 20, 2017 19:36
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CobiWann posted:Our DM has very specific rules for Wish - 25 words or less, and you can't "pre-game" your Wish if it's from a scroll. If you cast it from a scroll you have two minutes to come up with what you want to say and how you want to say it. Resurrection is back on the menu!
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Sep 21, 2017 05:45
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CobiWann posted:Our DM has very specific rules for Wish - 25 words or less, and you can't "pre-game" your Wish if it's from a scroll. If you cast it from a scroll you have two minutes to come up with what you want to say and how you want to say it. Of course, since you didn't specify WHICH game, it is from Hello Kitty Online Island Adventure...
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Sep 21, 2017 06:45
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Samizdata posted:Of course, since you didn't specify WHICH game, it is from Hello Kitty Online Island Adventure... Speaking of Hello Kitty... So we just wraped up our third session of UA. The crew decides to return the bloody Hello Kitty back back to bodybuilder adapt Brgenworth. Astor, Smythe and Ronaldo weren't there because there players had conflicts IRL. Max, Bill and Gwuardio where there and they were joined by a new player, Garret Jones, ex-cia assassin and avatar of the Executioner. Garret knows Bill via the conspiracy theory forum. After giving him the backpack Brgenworth he gives them info on one of the other NPCs. Raritylover64 is the man source of "Shadow Man" posts on the conspiracy forum. Brgenworth says Raritylover64 used to come to the gym and is real name is Jimmy Smith. Garret tries to google him but predictably there's a lot of Jimmy Smith's in the area. Gwuardio tries to search the gym computers to find him in the system but rolls a fumble and crashes the system. So the gang searches through the paper records. Max finds three Jimmy Smiths that meet the description. The first Jimmy they decide to go lives in a sketch apartment downtown. He lives in an apartment in the basement. Bill asks him the secret code people from the conspiracy forum use to identify each other. He doesn't answer right so they know it's not him. They go to the second Jimmy. He's in the nicer part of suburbia. They help him bring in his groceries and he offers them coffee. They notice he buys a lot of groceries for a single man. They heard a strange thumping sound coming from the basement. He asks them to leave, he locks the door behind them ans starts closing all the blinds. Suspicious they decide to investigate. Max uses animal hearing to determine that he is caring the groceries down into the basement. They go in though the back door. Garret shoots the lock with his silencer. Max watches the door while the others go in. Garret sneaks his way down into the basement. He finds an open door in a hidden room down there. He hears whispering and crying. Meanwhile Bill and Gwuardio search upstairs. Gwuardio finds a shoe box with mementos; pictures of women with locks of hair taped to the back. This angers Gwuardio so he starts to head down stairs to confront Jimmy. Back in the basement, Jimmy hears something upstairs so he starts to leave the basement, Garret has to hide. Gwuardio confronts Jimmy in the kitchen. Jimmy loses it and tackles him to the ground. Meanwhile Garret goes into the bad room and finds three women chained up. Bill pistol whips Jimmy to get him off the bodybuilder. He tries to hit Jimmy again but misses. The assassin comes back up the stairs and choke holds Jimmy until he passes out. A discussion occurs about what to do. They kinda can't just call the police since two of them are carrying and they did break into this man's house. They decide to let the women go and let them call the police. Garret bleaches the kitchen and otherwise destroys the evidence. Third times the charm. Jimmy number three lives with his parents. Bill knocks on the front door but gets Jimmy Sr. instead. Garret tries but fails his Lie roll so he ends up just creeping out Mrs. Smith. Max tries and says he's Jimmy Jr's therapist. Mrs. Smith let's him in and sends him down to the basement. He fails to get through to Jimmy so Max texts Bill and he let's him in to the basement through the back. Bill ask him the code and this Jimmy responds correctly. Jimmy gives the lead for the next adventure. Before they leave the power goes out in the house. Just before it shuts off they sworn they could see a face on the tv. We decided to end it there. Next time we investigate the cult of runaway children that has sprung up around Mr. Nobody.
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Sep 23, 2017 04:33
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Our Tanicus session this weekend had an unexpected celebrity cameo...
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Sep 25, 2017 11:46
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The party killed a Balor today. Its name was Boustrophedon. We pregamed all our buffs, smacked it with something like -11 Dex and a bunch of other ability damage, two negative levels, a critical trip attack, and all it got to do was breath a single Power Word Stun before keeling over and dying. That's the first time in a long time that The Honest Mistakes have completed a task without kicking a worse can down the road.
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Sep 25, 2017 15:07
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gradenko_2000 posted:The party killed a Balor today. Its name was Boustrophedon. We pregamed all our buffs, smacked it with something like -11 Dex and a bunch of other ability damage, two negative levels, a critical trip attack, and all it got to do was breath a single Power Word Stun before keeling over and dying. Poor fucker never had a chance.
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Sep 25, 2017 16:41
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gradenko_2000 posted:Its name was Boustrophedon. 
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Sep 25, 2017 16:54
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Yawgmoth posted:The final tally was -3 str/con, -17 dex, -1 int/wis/cha, and 2 negative levels before succumbing to an assortment of critical hits and untyped energy damage. That's...statistically significant!
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Sep 25, 2017 17:30
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gradenko_2000 posted:The party killed a Balor today. Its name was Boustrophedon. We pregamed all our buffs, smacked it with something like -11 Dex and a bunch of other ability damage, two negative levels, a critical trip attack, and all it got to do was breath a single Power Word Stun before keeling over and dying. Yawgmoth posted:The final tally was -3 str/con, -17 dex, -1 int/wis/cha, and 2 negative levels before succumbing to an assortment of critical hits and untyped energy damage. This is why I never let the players pregame for as long as they want, because they will always bowl over the encounter if they have even the slightest competence. Even a CR20 Balor. Anything. I'm a sucker for improvising (contriving, if need be) some kind of ticking clock once the encounter is known to be imminent, and ten saying, "you have x rounds to prepare. What do you do?" It's usually an in-game time mechanic, like rounds or minutes, but real time works too if they players are really dragging their feet about talking strategy. This is also awesome, though, and the players rule for having put that much hate on a Balor.  Speaking of which, I used a powerful sphinx in tonight's D&D5 dungeon crawl, and used a real time clock in the encounter. Since the party is stuck in this huge dungeon, they have to scavenge, steal, or trade for any items that they need. So far, they're been looting rooms and bartering with a clan of goblin merchants, but I just gave them a new way to get some items. There's a (plot important) sphinx holed up in a room they just found. He has been sleeping for a long time and wants to game "in such a way as is tradition for my people." So he'll tell them a riddle and give them 30 seconds to solve it, in real time. (I let characters make INT-based skill checks before the riddle is read to buy them more time if one or more of the rolls re high enough.) The catch is that the party has to "ante" one item. If they can't solve the riddle in the time given, they lose the item. But if they get it, they get that back and an item of slightly more value than what they ante'd. Alternately, they can ante themselves and consent to a good, hard hit from the sphinx (he is part cat, after all). I only did that last part because the sphinx really wanted to play but the party was a little gun-shy about anteing the items they happened to have. It worked out pretty well. The party won twice and lost once. The time thing worked well, which is nice because I didn't know if it was going to be too much or too little time. They players loved it and got right into it, spazzing out like people in a high-pressure game show.
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Sep 28, 2017 04:33
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Railing Kill posted:This is why I never let the players pregame for as long as they want, because they will always bowl over the encounter if they have even the slightest competence. Even a CR20 Balor. Anything. I'm a sucker for improvising (contriving, if need be) some kind of ticking clock once the encounter is known to be imminent, and ten saying, "you have x rounds to prepare. What do you do?" It's usually an in-game time mechanic, like rounds or minutes, but real time works too if they players are really dragging their feet about talking strategy. I'm gonna go to bat for our GM in that he almost never lets us do this either, but this was one occasion where it was entirely appropriate because the Balor was summoned, so we had a bunch of time to prepare before pulling the trigger. In most other situations we've been in, we don't have that luxury and tend to need to put up our buffs and special abilities on the fly.
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Sep 28, 2017 04:38
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Also I'm pretty sure the entire point was for us to clown on something that's "supposed" to be powerful, given that the majority of the buffing we did was probably overkill for that fight.
senrath fucked around with this message at 04:59 on Sep 28, 2017 |
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Sep 28, 2017 04:56
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It can also be fun if you're going up against an enemy group that's pregaming right back at you. I was part of a fun 3.5 campaign, where one session was a kind of gladiatorial dungeon combat. Our group decided to turtle up and defend a choke point, which meant that when the fight kicked off the opposing team came at us covered in invisibility spells and buffs.
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Sep 28, 2017 06:42
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Somebody fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Sep 29, 2017 |
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Sep 28, 2017 06:48
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