OOC

[reefwood]

Are there any rules questions left from Adventure #4?

I'm going to type up a post-game summary to give a better idea of the mountains and what you find while scouting the area. You will spend the next couple months observing the area while waiting for the builders caravan. There will be orcs, fey, and humans around, but any interactions will be pretty sparse during these harsh winter months.

If the demon claw (info will be posted with summary) is not kept by the PCs, the Pathfinder Society will keep it for study and collection. In fact, it could be the first item for your new lodge.

Adventure #5 will task the current PCs with finding the old/hidden/lost Pathfinder lodge while the previous PCs and NPCs protect the caravan building the new lodge.

[Rabbit]

Vras doesn't want to demon claw and thinks it will be better served as a wall mount in the Pathfinder lodge (once the arcanists have studied and cleared the item.) He warns anyone interested in it that, "Demons play the long game and have a way of helping in the short term, I'm talking decades maybe a lifetime. But a price will be paid. And the cost will likely be more than we suspect and make no doubt, the demon will come out ahead."

No specific rule questions other than ones I've already asked.

Vras will be using his time and skills as follows;
-Survival to scout out the land and build up supplies (noting the local inhabitants but bothering them as little as possible.)
-Profession (Cartography) to aid Torvak in mapping the findings.
-Profession (Soldier) to establish a base perimeter, set up some basic defenses (lookout points, small walls for partial cover for archers, trenches w/spiked poles to force attackers into bottle neck kill points...)
-And build a modest sweatlodge to relax in while ingesting those mushrooms/black roots/etc he found while out foraging.

[icnivad]

Torvak is pretty interested in the demon claw, and consorting with demons doesn't really phase him, being of demon blood himself. He ultimately passes it up preferring the nimbleness of his rapier, though. He would be happy to help study it for the pathfinders, though.

During the next two months, there are two things that Torvak would like to do.
Initially, he'd like to travel around Belkzen. If he has time, he'd like to travel to every major location marked on the map. His goal is to get to a place, and stay long enough to study a specific, out-of-the-way location (specifically in regards to becoming familiar of it for teleport). If the pathfinders have good relations with the current location, he would stop in and say hi to the leadership. If not, he would try to stay hidden. Using invisibility as needed.
During his travel, I'd like to make sure to stop by Bluster wall, and pay a visit to Krogg and finish our one-on-one. His goal is friendly rivalry, not competitive enemies.

Travel:
Seems like the horses could make the round pretty quickly. Or he could summon a phantom steed and travel at 100ft. One thing I never quite understood: Your calculation of speed in another post calculated the Phantom steeds at 80* 8 hrs = 64 miles, but the thoroughbreds at 120 ft, hustling. Is there any reason the phantom steeds can't hustle too? I can't find any indication why they wouldn't be able to. Traveling on his own, at CL10, with two castings of phantom steeds hustling for 200 ft/rnd, he should be able to cover around 500 miles a day. That's assuming he can ride for 20 hours (2 castings), which I think will require some checks to stay awake. He only needs 2 hours of sleep a night, though, so this still gives him a couple hours of downtime.

[reefwood]

May 18, 2014 10:25:41 GMT -5 icnivad said:

Torvak is pretty interested in the demon claw, and consorting with demons doesn't really phase him, being of demon blood himself. He ultimately passes it up preferring the nimbleness of his rapier, though. He would be happy to help study it for the pathfinders, though.

I have some more info about the demon claw that will be posted with the summary but probably not anything that will change minds about it.

---

May 18, 2014 10:25:41 GMT -5 icnivad said:

During the next two months, there are two things that Torvak would like to do.
Initially, he'd like to travel around Belkzen. If he has time, he'd like to travel to every major location marked on the map. His goal is to get to a place, and stay long enough to study a specific, out-of-the-way location (specifically in regards to becoming familiar of it for teleport). If the pathfinders have good relations with the current location, he would stop in and say hi to the leadership. If not, he would try to stay hidden. Using invisibility as needed.
During his travel, I'd like to make sure to stop by Bluster wall, and pay a visit to Krogg and finish our one-on-one. His goal is friendly rivalry, not competitive enemies.

This won't work for a few reasons. The main one being that you are assigned to keep watch over the area near the east end of Whisperfall Pass in preparation for the caravan. Also, it wouldn't be safe to split up. And getting around as winter ramps up will be difficult. I forgot to scale up the snow effects as the party rode north, but I'll get to more of that in the summary. A good chunk of this time will be spent holed up in a cave during the increasing snow and cold.

Although, he can scout out teleport spots in this area.

---

May 18, 2014 10:25:41 GMT -5 icnivad said:

Travel:
Seems like the horses could make the round pretty quickly. Or he could summon a phantom steed and travel at 100ft. One thing I never quite understood: Your calculation of speed in another post calculated the Phantom steeds at 80* 8 hrs = 64 miles, but the thoroughbreds at 120 ft, hustling. Is there any reason the phantom steeds can't hustle too? I can't find any indication why they wouldn't be able to. Traveling on his own, at CL10, with two castings of phantom steeds hustling for 200 ft/rnd, he should be able to cover around 500 miles a day. That's assuming he can ride for 20 hours (2 castings), which I think will require some checks to stay awake. He only needs 2 hours of sleep a night, though, so this still gives him a couple hours of downtime.

Snow squares in the mountains should have cost 6-8 squares of movement, which I forgot to apply, so the thoroughbreds should have been hustling at only 10 ft per round during the last stretch, and as time goes on, portions will be impassible for the winter.

Phantom steeds aren't real creatures, and I restrict such things mostly to what is spelled out in their description. Not being able to Hustle makes sense because they don't have try ability to give more umph like living creatures. Also, they don't have a Con score or Fort save to make the necessary rolls. Plus, it makes sense balance-wise that they can go for a set time and distance without worrying about living limitations, but in turn, they can't exceed normal limitations and push themselves further like living creatures can.

[reefwood]

It may take me a few more days to finish the post-game summary, and I figured it might be best to post this info sooner:

Demon (Glabrezu) Claw - CL 15
This +1 shocking, greater wounding pincer does 2d8+1 bludgeoning damage +1d6 electricity damage +1d6 bleed damage. It is a cursed weapon that fuses to the wearer and compels her to never remove it. Upon putting on the item, and every month thereafter, the wearer must make a Will save (DC 25) or slowly transform into a demon. Three failed saves ensures the transformation:

Fail #1 - Alignment moves one step closer to chaotic. Resist electricity 5.
Fail #2 - Alignment moves one step closer to evil. Resist electricity 10.
Fail #3 - Alignment becomes chaotic evil. Immune to electricity. Full transformation into glabrezu in 30 days.

This spell allows the wearer to remove the cursed weapon but does not remove the curse from the weapon:

Remove Curse
School abjuration; Level bard 3, cleric 3, paladin 3, sorcerer/wizard 4
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
Range touch
Target creature or object touched
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless)

Remove curse can remove all curses on an object or a creature. If the target is a creature, you must make a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) against the DC of each curse affecting the target. Success means that the curse is removed. Remove curse does not remove the curse from a cursed shield, weapon, or suit of armor, although a successful caster level check enables the creature afflicted with any such cursed item to remove and get rid of it.

[reefwood]

Adventure #5

Real life work and play have kept me away from the computer. Not sure how much I'll be able to post about Adventure #5 beforehand, so I want to give some details to get your minds angling in the appropriate direction.

The main objective will be to find the hidden/lost Pathfinder lodge known as Whitefall. It was established by a drow venture captain and dueger chronicler about a decade before the fall of Aroden (which led to the ride of diabolism in Cheliax, the Eye of Abendego hurricane, the Worldwound, as well as other turmoil and catastrophe across the Inner Sea region). Their team of field agents mostly of consisted of other darkland humanoids and were tasked with secretly exploring lost ancient ruins in and around Belkzen that were built by dwarves and orcs (lots of underground stuff), as well as old remnants of rule by a lich (1000 - 1500 yrs ago) and dragon (700 yrs ago for about a decade) who conquered the surface of this region at separate times. Last contact with Whitefall was shortly before the fall of Aroden (~100 yrs ago).

There will be some info presented about the lodge, but I will let you know off the bat that there isn't one single way to find it. It'll be up to the players to determine a plan. It is believed to be inside a mountain (which mountain?) and designed not to be found, so it can be expected to be protected by magic.

Depending on how long it takes to find the lodge, and/or if you do, the rest of the adventure will be exploring it.

[reefwood]

Re: Adventure #5

I will post a brief summary and wrap-up of this adventure, but I'm going to hold off on revealing anything about the actual lodge. Maybe we can use that for a mini-adventure during the summer.

[reefwood]

Campaign Conclusion

Thank you to everyone for being part of this mini-campaign. It was really fun! I very much enjoyed the rotating cast of diverse PCs and appreciated everyone's flexibility with scheduling.

This was my first home-brewed game where I had the whole overarching plot figured out from the start. Not every detail but a rough idea for 5-6 adventures and how they were connected. All this, along with using an already existing campaign setting, helped prep go quicker and made it easier to wing things when everything wasn't prepped - such as maps, NPC stats, DCs - because I at least knew more-or-less how the story and challenges were supposed to go. Winging it also helped when the party went in an unexpected direction or table time was running out. Along similar lines, individual adventures and the overarching plot was shaped and morphed somewhat based on PC actions and player suggestions.

Another thing I'm happy about is actually getting to the end of the story, which was sparked by relics I read about in the Council of Thieves module and driven by Venture-Captain Haav'ork Blackmoon's desire to get a footing back in his homeland of Belkzen. The past 9 months have spawned new ideas for more adventures beyond this path, but this is the end of what I first had in mind, so it seems like a good time to put this to a rest. At least for now.

I have posted recaps for Adventures #5 and #6. I will also post an epilogue with findings from the files collected in Whitefall and info on the relics. If there are questions about any of the adventures, post them here, and I will explain and reveal what I can. And finally, here's a list of notable characters from this story:


Pathfinders:
Venture-Captain Haav'ork Blackmoon (half-orc)
Chronicler Leda Oinio with bodyguard Bartholomew Oinio (humans)

Field Agents:
Elana/Iris Stardon (halfling thief/priestess of Calistria)
Fidget (gnome druid)
-Dot (cheetah companion)
Ly'lue (eldritch knight)
Pratt (gnome trickster)
Steve (human summoner)
-Eddie (eidolon)
Taj (human fighter)
Torvak (orc mage)
Vras (orc rage prophet)

NPCs:
Venture-Captain Rac'cona Uldeth (orc warrior/Aroden worshipper)
Chronicler Grimfet All-Eye (gnome mage - Whitefall)

Krogg the Shout of Cleft Head (orc)
Dregg Clovenfoot of the Cleft Head (orc)
Lorgash Bluetongue of Lone Worg (orc)

Tulluk Clovenface of Cleft Head (giant orc)
Hundux Halfman of One Eye (half-orc)
Dagga the Cloud Lord or Stormspear (orc)
Brekka Ashlung of Murdering Child (orc)
Krinkin the Beautiful of Blood Trail (orc)
Sra'avek Silvertongue of Blood Trail (orc)
Guzzun Rotgot of Defiled Corpse (orc)

Shandra Vexxes, First Mate of the Three Sisters (human)
Phiona Vexxes, Navigator of the Three Sisters (human)
-Elia (dolphin companion)
Tryphex (ancient three-headed linnorm)

Venture-captain Gringin Tallowfoot (Chelish halfling)
Chronicler Lengrentu (Chelish tiefling)
Signifier Devara Sarkis (Order of the Chain human)
Sa'tinder of Cicatrix (Chelish elven woodsman)
Bregga the Axe (Chelish half-orc huntress)
Elandrexa (Chelish fiendish witch)