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CoffeeIncluded
2013-01-11, 09:28 AM
AKA the best PbP. We're on our third in-character and our seventh out-of-character thread. Basically what happened was that another player and I joined onto a game after a couple people dropped out, the group got along wonderfully, and when the old DM stopped posting I went out and looked for a new DM. He made a DMPC, a new campaign, and it's gotten to the point where if I don't see new posts when I wake up in the morning, I immediately wonder what happened. I guess I'll be the main poster, but I'd like everyone else in the game to post too (hint!).

Anyway, on to the cast.

Kurt Loderr
http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac294/caffeineincluded/Kurt.png A dwarven barbarian/crusader with a greataxe, and the cleric likes casting Enlarge Person on him. I'll let you draw the conclusions as to how much damage he deals. Let's just say this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nrCvjg6nsI) is highly appropriate, especially when he's raging. He's put raging orcs at -30. Kurt's a fantastic meatshield; if he ever goes down, then we're all probably going down with him. Out of combat, he's quiet but thoughtful and a valuable, loyal ally and friend.

Miriam Sunwatcher
http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac294/caffeineincluded/MiriamRevamp-1.png
A human cleric of St. Cuthbert, she took vow of poverty after learning about some nasty truths about her past--that her mentor was really just an old creepy pervert who was taking advantage of her, and many young women before her. Or at least we think they're truths. Actually, we're not entirely sure what actually happened, and we're dealing with it right now. She's extremely serious, to the point of being dour, and is probably the most mentally fragile of the party. She has a tendency to lecture others about what they should be doing morally and thinks that everyone else in the party is just plain greedy. My character thinks she's selfless to the point of being self destructive, and thinks she's also blaming herself for something that wasn't her fault. In combat, Miriam's a buffer and heal-bot.

Mithril Rola
http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac294/caffeineincluded/Mithril.png
A human wizard, Mithril decided to go adventuring because of her thirst for knowledge--she wants to learn everything in the world. She loves her magic, but is very cautious about its applications, and even though she's a generalist she doesn't like using enchantment spells on principle. Mithril's also rather naive about how the world works and blames herself for any misfortunes that happen to them or people close to them.

Natalia Bolts
http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac294/caffeineincluded/Natalia-1.png
My character, Natalia Bolts is a human rogue/swashbuckler (I'm going the daring outlaw route) TWF-er. I originally conceived of Natalia as a cross between Wiress and Luna Lovegood, but she's become a cross between Wiress and River Tam. Natalia's a genius--despite being a rogue her intelligence score is higher than her dexterity score, and this was deliberate. Even though Natalia's brilliant, her thought processes are tangled at best and she's basically incapable of speaking a clear coherent sentence. She's always wanted to learn magic but everyone in her hometown forbade it, as they were petrified of the prospect of "Nuts learning magic." Her nickname is also Nuts, which is yet another pun as she's obsessed with traps and mechanical devices. Basically Natalia is trapped inside her own mind and she knows it. She's got few friends and so latches onto the companions she has, although she butts heads with Miriam a lot because she's a loot monkey, though she wants to share her gained knowledge with the world. Natalia also has a massive crush on Mithril.

Shiny "Lightfoot"
http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac294/caffeineincluded/Shiny.png
A gnome beguiler, "pathological liar" doesn't even begin to describe Shiny. The party face with a wisdom score generously described as "abysmal" or "Elan," Shiny has a new story every time you talk to him, and nobody has any close what, if any, parts of them are real. He may have hidden depths to his character, but only his player knows what they are for sure. All we know for sure is that a) his stories are more often than not hilarious, and b) he's going to be a spanner in the works no matter what happens. Really, there is no adequately describing him with a summary alone.

Valen
http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac294/caffeineincluded/Valen.png
The DMPC, Valen was originally a sorcerer/barbarian/human paragon, but now he's the DM's homebrewed dragon ascendant class. Valen's rather taciturn, though he has a somewhat wry sense of humor. He's very secretive, and basically refuses to talk about his past or any secrets, even when pressed. Valen's extremely aggressive and is always spoiling for a fight. He shows this in-combat too, as his go-to strategy is to buff himself with Mage Armor and Shield, then go in swinging with his Whirling Frenzy. I'm not sure exactly what he'll do with his new class, but I suspect it'll be similar.

The setting is what the DM calls Forgotten Realms-lite. So for example the traditional gods stay, mostly because Miriam's a cleric of St. Cuthbert and he didn't want her to change.

Anyway, that's the list of players, I'll get on with the journal asap!

CoffeeIncluded
2013-01-11, 11:05 AM
Prologue
We started the campaign in Hillsfar to get new supplies and get used to the campaign setting; the DM bumped us to level 2 and so we finally had access to masterwork weapons. Shiny and Kurt were left to get their masterwork weapons from the poorer merchants outside the city, as Hillsfar only lets humans live within its walls. None of us liked this place and so we unanimously decided to just get what we needed and leave.

Of course, right on cue, we're surrounded by a group of orphaned demihuman children (at least six, the DM explicitly described three as a gnome, a half-elf, and a half-orc) who were begging for food. Naturally, this got to everyone, especially the girls. We give them some spare change and some of our extra rations, and then find out that they pickpocketed us for some minor items like candles or paper. As we take our items back, Miriam stays behind to preach to the children while Mithril and Natalia go shopping in Hillsfar proper. They also promise the children that they'll return once they became stronger. Miriam wanted to get enough money to built an orphanage for them. Natalia wanted to find a city that would accept them.

Natalia and Mithril went to the magic shop first, where they picked up spells and generally fangirled over all the magic available. This was where they first wan into Valen, who first walked into the somewhat posh shop half-naked and rippling with muscles just to see how the owner and customers reacted, then was nothing but gentlemanly to the two girls. And gave them the nicknames "Young wizardess" and "Little one" respectively. Natalia immediately realizes he's not the savage he looks, but Valen refuses to elaborate on anything. He then thanks them and leaves.

As they leave Hillsfar, Mithril buys a masterwork crossbow for herself and a hand crossbow for Natalia, who already has a light crossbow for herself. She places it under Natalia's pillow as she sleeps that night, but the rogue's easily able to figure out who gave it to her.

Anyway, the party stays at an inn outside Hillsfar, where they see a notice asking for help: A small town between Hulburg and Glister called Linwood is under attack by orcs and they need help. The party decides to go, as well as two NPCs: a 7th level ranger named Morton and a 1st level ranger named Henry. The party treats Morton, who's gruff and rude with respect, but admittedly are kinda patronizing to Henry, who left his farm to go adventuring. Miriam's the most patronizing, basically telling Henry to go back home to the sheep because this world's not for him. Henry doesn't take this well, but it's pretty clear he's new to the whole adventuring thing. They get dinner, Natalia tries flirting with Mithril a bit but fails spectacularly, they pester the barmaid by giving Mithril's weasel familiar, Whiskers, a seat at the table and a little cup to drink, then Shiny regales the whole inn and tavern with (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13526665&postcount=180) a completely (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13527105&postcount=183) false tale (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13528383&postcount=193) about how the party met and faced down a dragon. Okay, it's a very, very, VERY embellished tale about our first campaign cut short. Oh, and Miriam bought a wand of cure light wounds, or as we call it, the Keeping Us Alive Stick.

The prologue concluded with the party going to sleep, ready to set out for the morning--and finding Valen in the same room, as he had just so happened to purchase the bed next to them for the night. Suspicious, Natalia asks Valen where he's going--and yes, he's headed to Linwood too. With a sigh of resignation, the party puts their head together and decides to invite Valen along as the sixth member of the group, while Miriam wonders if Natalia invited him along for more...personal reasons.

Kol Korran
2013-01-12, 01:06 PM
Never read oboe log before! I'm intrigued. The characters seem well thought of, and I loved shiny tale. That was good story telling! I'll look forward to this.

shadow_archmagi
2013-01-12, 11:02 PM
Looking forward to reading this in the morning

Doorhandle
2013-01-13, 02:11 AM
This is gonna be good. *Rubs hands, releasing a fiendish glee.*

Also, Is it wrong that I like the DMPC the most out of the characters? Because it seems he made his build entirely so he can rush into combat shirtless.

CoffeeIncluded
2013-01-13, 05:33 PM
This is gonna be good. *Rubs hands, releasing a fiendish glee.*

Also, Is it wrong that I like the DMPC the most out of the characters? Because it seems he made his build entirely so he can rush into combat shirtless.

And then eventually turn into a dragon. But yeah, that's the vibe I got too. Anyway, I'm with friends and in my spare time we just got into one scary-ass encounter. I'll have another update tomorrow. Glad you guys are interested!

CoffeeIncluded
2013-01-14, 10:14 PM
While currently in the game...Well, you'll see...here's an update! :smalltongue:

The next morning we pack up and headed to the docks, where we're joined by Henry and Morton on a boat chartered for the other side of the Moonsea. The journey was scheduled to last three days and the first day passes without incident, as Kurt frets about being on the open ocean, Natalia draws some blueprints for a hidden blade sheath, and Miriam accuses Valen of trying to take advantage of Natalia before both of them assure her that this is not the case before Miriam, pressed by Natalia, reluctantly talks about her former lover--Calric, an older man and her mentor who sacrificed himself to save her. Oh yeah, and Miriam lectures Henry and preaches to him about returning to his farm and being a good farm boy. Did I mention this is going to become a pattern with her? Meanwhile, Shiny's running around with an eyepatch over his eye, and glamered himself so he actually looks like he has an empty socket underneath if anyone checks.

That night Natalia makes her spot and listen checks, and notices hulking forms--lizardmen--on the shore, and the boat drifting there, threatening to run aground. She runs around the ship alerting everyone, and tells the captain that their boat is being pulled to shore. He recognizes the creatures as lizardmen, led by a lizardman king, who are after their cargo. We all run to the railing, buff, and load our crossbows as the sailors try to sail away from shore, and roll initiative.

The captain makes his spot check to notice a net placed on the ship's hull, bound by three ropes, that is dragging the ship to shore. Natalia, who won initiative just makes the AC to shoot and break one. She points out the two remaining ropes to the others, and then ceases to be useful for the rest of the battle as every single shot she makes after that misses. This will also become a pattern, as her bonuses just aren't high enough to compensate for bad rolls, especially in comparison to Valen and Kurt.

Morton is able to break the remaining ropes, but sustains heavy damage from the javelins that would have knocked any of the PCs except for Kurt into negatives. When he responded with two attacks in one round, we realized that Morton was at a pretty decent level. As javelins rain down onto the ship courtesy of lizardmen on the shore, several members of the crew are hurt, and Miriam's forced to run around healbotting, a role which she will become very accustomed to as the campaign goes on. Next to Kurt and Shiny, Henry freaks out and literally wets himself while blindly shooting a lizardman on shore.

Of course, he crits.

Shiny then threatens the lizardmen on shore that they're about to anger something extremely dangerous on the ship that will kill them, rolls a 27 on the bluff check, and makes the lizardmen that know common (the stronger ones) lose their actions for the next couple of rounds. This happens to be excellent timing because the lizardmen who placed the underwater net on the ship now hop onto the deck. Natalia would have been able to sneak attack if she hadn't missed shooting at the rope (and Morton then snaps the last one himself.) Shiny successfully color sprays two of the lizardmen, knocking them out of the fight. A third one then hits Mithril with a javelin but Kurt retaliates with an axe to the chest. There's even more lizardmen on the boat and with all the NPC's the fight is devolving into chaos. Henry hits another lizardman and Valen and Morton kill two others. Morton and Shiny are both injured and another lizardman tries shredding the rudder before Valen cuts him as well. yet ANOTHER lizardman, this one with levels in barbarian, rages and nearly breaks the rudder while the captain takes two hits. The crew is too afraid to fight the raging lizardman, and it takes Kurt's axe, Valen's greatsword, Miriam's crossbow, and Mithril's Magic Missile to bring him down. Natalia, of course, rolls a 1 to hit.

Shiny then finishes the combat in style, throwing up a silent image of a silver dragon and causing the remaining lizardmen, who all failed the will save, on shore to cower at its sight. Henry also fails the will save and cowers behind some crates. Valen ALSO fails the will save and tries to speak to the dragon. "He" replies in a squeaky facsimile of Shiny's voice.

With the ropes cut and all the lizardmen on deck dead and floating in the Moonsea, Miriam helps patch everyone on the ship up. Morton refuses her aid, but mentions that lizardfolk usually leave people alone--they must feel pressured by the humans in the area and by their loss of territory to attack. Mithril wonders if they might be allied with the orcs, but Morton says that lizardmen and orcs hate each other and this wouldn't happen. And yet both feel pressured into attacking.

With this disquieting thought, the next two days pass without incident, and as the ship docks not far from Melvaunt, the captain thanks us for our help and acknowledges that without us, they'd have been run aground, and without Miriam a decent chunk of the crew would be dead. He pays us back our passage plus a bit extra, and we now have an ally if we need a ship in the future.

Linwood's about three day's walk from Melvaunt, and while Morton and Henry have horses, we do not. As the party begins to banter among itself, we begin the trek towards Linwood and our mission...

Zman
2013-01-15, 12:41 AM
This is gonna be good. *Rubs hands, releasing a fiendish glee.*

Also, Is it wrong that I like the DMPC the most out of the characters? Because it seems he made his build entirely so he can rush into combat shirtless.

Exactly right. What's more badass than that?!

And eventually I write a base class to match the idea I had, and yes, still shirtless.


Edit: one thing, Henry didn't become a lvl 1 ranger until after the Lizardman.

Edit2: No one knew how tough Moron was until later, certainly no one expected him to be a mid level NPC at this time.

Edit 3: I think ou need to remove most discussion of Natalia's rolling. It really isn't as you describe it and detracts from the read. Good job so far, also could you link the posts in the first for each part of the log.