3SC's Ironfang Invasion OOC

[3SecondCultist]

"Ironfang Invasion"

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In the war-torn nation of Nirmathas, far from the battlefront, the sleepy little town of Phaendar is rocked by the sudden appearance of an overwhelming foe! A group of unlikely heroes must flee their homes, saving whatever friends and supplies they can, as the monstrous Ironfang Legion and their insidious General Azaersi begin carving out an empire of monsters from the dregs of Nirmathas and Molthune alike. If Azaersi has her way, then the entire world will come to recognize the power of the Legion, as it takes the northern countries by storm. The heroes must guard their band of survivors in the wilderness, find safe haven, face the brutal bounty hunters dispatched to end their flight to freedom, and live on to foil General Azaersi's dark machinations.

After all, survival is the Nirmathi way.

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IC Thread I

IC Thread II

Google Spreadsheet

Roll20 Link

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Welcome everyone, to my game of Ironfang Invasion!

I'd like to take the time to congratulate you all for your entries. They were, to a one, delightful to read, and I'm looking forward to seeing them brought to life in the IC thread. I'd also like to take a second to discuss the tone of the game. While this AP is designed largely to be a return to Pathfinder's adventuring roots, a classic fight against monsters, we're also probably going to venture into a few dark places along the way (I mean that literally as well as figuratively, but we'll get to that later). Expect themes of survival and desperation, and a view firsthand at the more horrific features of war as the Legion rampages over southern Nirmathas. Your characters will be tested, and might not always win the day. But, as the Nirmathi are so fond of doing, there will usually be chances to hide, to regroup, and to plan devastating counterattacks. To help represent the abstractions of managing your own guerilla army, we will be using the Militia rules presented in Lands of Conflict.

Furthermore, there is the matter of supplemental materials that I'll be using to facilitate the game. First is Roll20, which I'm aware most of you are familiar with. For those of you that aren't: it's a mapping software that has built-in die rolling compatibility and lots of custom minis to make battles easier to manage and more aesthetically appealing. The link to join the game is up at the top of this post, where the IC thread will go. If that doesn't work, please send me your email via PM and I'll invite you that way. If you don't have an account yet, you'll need to make one for the purposes of this game, since battles will make no sense otherwise. If you're ever confused about where your character is relative to other people, that should help clarify things. The next piece of software is Google Hangouts, which I'll be using as an informal chat for everyone. The reason I choose this over Roll20 is twofold: as amazing as Roll20 is, it doesn't have very good mobile or tablet support due to screen size and a lack of push notifications, and I know most of you are already on Google Hangouts, so joining one more conversation should be easy enough. Neither of these are optional features; you'll need both applications to stay afloat. I'll have the Google Hangouts link up as soon as everyone sends me an email address in order to invite them.

Last but not least, I ask that all of you make a commitment to post regularly. I know most of you - we've either played together or I've run a game for you in the past - so I know you can hold yourselves to this standard. That means that people should be posting roughly every 48 hours or so. If something has come up, that's totally fine. Real life comes first. All I ask is that you please let me know as soon as you can. Send me a message or post here in the OOC if you must, but don't just drop off the map. Even if you've lost interest in the game, I promise I won't be offended. I've had plenty of players drop on me before, it's nothing new. In addition, I expect a fair quality of spelling and grammar. You don't need to be Shakespeare, but clear and concise prose isn't that much to ask for. I understand that not everyone's first language is English, but please give it some effort. I will as always do my best to extend you the same courtesies, both in terms of writing quality and due notice in case of any unexpected life events. Please regard my basic post writing and role guidelines below:

Thoughts are integrated into third person narrative or italics.

Bold is only for emphasized or imperative speech.

<If a character is using telepathy, use angle brackets and italics.>

Spoiler: Rules and Rolls

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Passive Perception:
To avoid metagaming, I will be using a passive perception system akin to the one seen in 5E. Instead of me very conspicuously telling all of you when I need you to roll Perception (and thus spoiling that there might be something hidden, even if you fail the check), I'm just going to treat it as if you've taken 10 on the roll. In essence, each of you will have a passive perception score equal to 10 + your Perception skill. You may always choose to roll Perception, if you want to. It's not that I don't trust you to metagame - I generally have faith that players keep IC and OOC knowledge separate - but sometimes it's fun to set up little surprises here and there.

Initiative and Combat:
Okay, I know you're all experienced. You know how to roll initiative. However, in play by post games, what can happen is that this mechanic really slows the game down, as we need roll-calls/actions from each player every round. So, in combat what's going to happen is that if for some reason you don't post or roll initiative in a timely manner, I will temporarily take control of your character. What actually constitutes 'timely manner' will be up for discussion (usually it's at least 48 hours). We're also going to be using semi-block for initiative rules. That means that I'll roll for all of you and your enemies at once, then whoever is at the top of the order will go, followed by me taking the enemies' turn collectively, then you all go, and so on. Again, I'm not trying to hem anyone in. I just want the game to progress smoothly.

I'll be keeping a record of people's Initiative and Perception modifiers in the forum code, so I can easily copy and paste them on my own without checking sheets every time.

Initiative

Character	Initiative
Ilsa	[roll]1d20+2[/roll]
Rask	[roll]1d20+6[/roll]
Gilraen	[roll]1d20+5[/roll]
Narek	[roll]1d20+10[/roll]
Eyena	[roll]1d20+1[/roll]

Perception

Character	Perception
Ilsa	[roll]1d20[/roll]
Ramiel	[roll]1d20+7[/roll]
Rask	[roll]1d20+10[/roll]
Gilraen	[roll]1d20+10[/roll]
Narek	[roll]1d20+4[/roll]
Eyena	[roll]1d20-1[/roll]

Spoiler: Southern Chernasardo

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Discovered Locations:
G1: Wolf Lair
G4: Gristledown
H1: Mutilated Body
I: All Eyes' Wood
J: Keloch's Stead
K: Children of Stone
M: Camp Red Jaw

Player	Character	Sex	Race	Class	Alignment
n0ble	Rask	Male	Half-Orc	Slayer (Vanguard) 5	Neutral
Lord of Mantas	Ilsa Hartwick & Ramiel	Female & Male	Half-Elf	Summoner 5	Chaotic Good
PersonMan	Eyena	Female	Human	Magus (Hexcrafter) 5	Lawful Neutral
Farmerbink	Gilraen Súrion	Male	Elf	Oracle (Warsighted) 5	Chaotic Good
Starbin	Narek Skyskin	Male	Samsaran	Diviner 5	Lawful Neutral

As you can see, your sheets and relevant details are up on the table! The last thing all of you need to do is pick speech colors. Please don't pick colors that are hard to read, don't pick colors that are too close to those of another player if you can avoid it, and avoid taking Green, Dark Green, Gray, Slate Gray, or Dark Slate Gray, since I expect to use all of those for speech colors throughout the game. Basically don't pick a variant of green or gray, and we should be fine.

The IC thread will be up within a day or so, at which point I'll throw a link up to the top of this post.

[n0ble]

Rask will continue to briefly speak in fire brick. Or not, given how prone to laconicness and brevity he is.

[Starbin]

Back ... and dark orange it is!

Spoiler: Moar info

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Alright, so here is some of the more pertinent information your characters would likely know after itemizing your inventory and doing a proper headcount and assessment of the survivors' skills. This also includes some of the unique 'camp' abilities of the more important NPCs. Also, I'm still working on the map with the hexes, although my MS Paint is being uncooperative. There's also one potentially important thing that somebody with Knowledge (Local) might uncover about the area.

• There are 21 survivors in the group, not counting your party, for a total of 26 mouths that need to be fed. That means if you want to keep everyone well fed, you're going to need to produce 26 Provision Points per day.
• You currently have 54 Provision Points, as the sum total of the food and water you were able to scrounge up from Phaendar before leaving.
• The skills from the NPCs that are immediately useful to your group are Craft (Traps), Heal, Handle Animal, Knowledge (Local), and Survival, at varying degrees of effectiveness.
• Jet can maintain resources, making sure the refugees use the most perishable items first and helping people pack balanced loads. So long as Jet oversees the cooking, the camp generates 1 additional Provision Point each day.
• Rhyna can use her herbalism training to find healing plants and savory herbs while foraging, and can treat the small wounds the refugees suffer daily. Characters in the camp heal 1 additional HP each night while they rest.
• Kining will keep everyone's weapons sharp and true, and though she grumbles, she trains the refugees how to fight so they don’t panic. All the refugees gain a +1 bonus on initiative rolls while Kining remains with the group.

Spoiler: Knowledge (Local) DC 14

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Although it's not well-known to most, there are a few small settlements within the Southern Chernasardo region of the Fangwood that have traded with Phaendar in the past. One of them is the tiny logging thorp of Gristledown. It has little more than 15 residents, and consists of a longhouse, canvas-walled huts, and a work shed. It's located several days due north from your position (at least three, but it could be longer if you're stopping for food and such).

[Lord Of Mantas]

Back again, because apparently our first was in the wrong forum.

As stated previously, Mortimer has purple speech and Armina has violet.

[PersonMan]

Perception: +5, +6, +6, +2 ... -1.

At least Eyena has plenty of people to spot things for her!

While other people are saying "back", let me just say - I was here the whole time.

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I'll go with Teal, since all the good colors are taken it's so nice.

EDIT: Going to say now that the action "Activate Black Market" is my favorite thing. It would've been narrowly beaten by "Activate Refugee", but that's just me misreading "Refuge".

[Farmerbink]

So, in the interest of fair warning, just tell me when I accidentally post GIlraen's speech in purple. That's my color for everything else, to I'm sure I'l accidentally lapse from time to time.

I suppose, since 3Sec has claimed the most appropriate colors of the forest, I'll have to settle for brown. As mentioned, this is a new thing for me, so just remind me when I goof.

[3SecondCultist]

I'll go with Teal, since all the good colors are taken it's so nice.

I suppose, since 3Sec has claimed the most appropriate colors of the forest, I'll have to settle for brown. As mentioned, this is a new thing for me, so just remind me when I goof.

Sorry, I just figured I wanted a gamut of colours for the Fangwood and all of its natural inhabitants. And gray seemed like an appropriate colour for the Ironfang Legion and its various array of forces. If you guys really want me to change it up, I can.

In other news, expect the IC up today. I'll either post again or edit the link into this post (and the OP).

Edit: Mantas, would you mind sending me an email address so as to add you to the Hangout? I think I've got everyone else's already.

[Lord Of Mantas]

I have sent you a PM with my email; it should be in your inbox.

Unless the IC goes up in the next hour or so, I shall see all of you late this evening in the new thread!

[3SecondCultist]

I have sent you a PM with my email; it should be in your inbox.

Unless the IC goes up in the next hour or so, I shall see all of you late this evening in the new thread!

Alright, we're all up on the Hangouts now!

And my IC probably won't go up until this afternoon - I have about a billion bureaucratic hoops to jump through first. Starting a new job next week, so I need to make sure all my paperwork is in order.

[Lord Of Mantas]

Well, congratulations on the new job, then! What will you be doing?

[3SecondCultist]

Well, congratulations on the new job, then! What will you be doing?

I'll be working with children who are differently abled or have behavioral issues on a one on one respite camp for the summer, before starting my Master's in Teaching in the fall.

The IC is up now! The link is there, and I'll put it up on the OP as well.

[Farmerbink]

Goodness. Just perusing the sheets and noticed that we're all quite tall.

I think all of us are within 4" of the peak height for our gender and race. I thought it was an interesting observation- we'd be hard-pressed to actually blend into a crowd!

[Lord Of Mantas]

Finally, I have returned! I feel like I got run over by a dump truck, but the birthday girl says it's the best birthday she's had in years, so it's all good.

I will get to posting posthaste.

EDIT: On a side note, the Roll20 link in the OOC works fine, but the one in the IC doesn't seem to go anywhere.

[3SecondCultist]

Initiative time! I'm going to make a single roll for your enemies, but not the NPCs who will be able to help you... later on. For now, this is all on you guys.

Mortimer: (1d20+1)[15]
Rask: (1d20+5)[23]
Gilraen: (1d20+5)[9]
Narek: (1d20+2)[22]
Eyena: (1d20+1)[2]

Hobgoblins: (3d6+2)[13]

Edit: well, I managed to roll both a nat 20 and a nat 1 in the same Initiative array. That bodes well for this game, at least!

[Lord Of Mantas]

Rolling for History!

(1d20+4)[17]

[n0ble]

knowledge local: (1d20+3)[23]

[n0ble]

Forgot to include the whole critical confirmation thing: (1d20+6)[24]

[Farmerbink]

know history! (1d20+6)[11]

[Starbin]

Here's trying - History - (1d20+8)[27] or Local - (1d20+8)[25]

EDIT: Now doomed to miss ever opponent for the rest of the game!

[Starbin]

So try for the double post ...

On loot, Narek could use the heavy crossbow & bolts. Recommend we split the guidance potions. He'll try to identify the wand, but the scrolls won't work for him. Besides, he still has a bull's strength scroll.

Question for 3SC - do the labeled potions (or any of the loot) look like they came from Oreld's?

KS Local - (1d20+8)[25], Spellcraft - (1d20+8)[21]

[3SecondCultist]

Question for 3SC - do the labeled potions (or any of the loot) look like they came from Oreld's?

Given Narek's knowledge of the wares sold at Oreld's, he can tell that the potions definitely come from there originally. Vane didn't sell anything without his customary and helpful label on the side of the bottle, along with a reagent list in miniature script on the side.

[Farmerbink]

d'oh. I meant to roll this IC, but forgot.

(1d20+6)[11] stealth
(1d20+6)[20] perception

hoping to sneak up on the lone Hobber

[3SecondCultist]

Let's roll some Perception for the hobgoblin! If he heard you guys through the door (which will give him a slight penalty), then no surprise round for you guys.

Perception: (1d20)[8]

Oh, and Baron, Narek has successfully identified the wand as a wand of magic missile, with 11 charges left.

Edit: That is one oblivious hobgoblin! As long as none of you roll 8 or lower, you should be fine to sneak up on him.

[Lord Of Mantas]

Rolling Perception.

Mort: (1d20+5)[25]
Armina: (1d20+5)[16]

[Starbin]

Okay, so Perception checks:
Narek - (1d20+4)[5]
Visk - (1d20+6)[16]

For future reference, the familiar has +6, Narek has +4 w/familiar, +2 w/o. Also, the table doesn't reflect his true initiative bonus (+9).

[Starbin]

Sorry for a double post, but I need to make some rolls. Since discussions are ongoing, let's do this ... four rolls incoming. First is a use of prescience, next two are Spellcraft, and last one is Perception. I'll use Prescience for a Spellcraft if my original result is less than 16. If I'm good on those two, then I'll use it for Perception (if it improves it). Otherwise, it may be a waste

Prescience - (1d20)[2]
Spellcraft 1 - (1d20+8)[26] - ID on first wand
Spellcraft 2 - (1d20+8)[14] - ID on second wand - failed
Perception - (1d20+4)[15] - looking out the front door for signs of hobgoblins

[3SecondCultist]

The ID on the second wand failed, but you did successfully ID the first wand as a wand of grease, with 12 charges left in it.

And as mentioned, you can take 10 on the second Spellcraft check, which nets you the result of a wand of prestidigitation with 26 charges remaining.

[3SecondCultist]

Double posting, to convey the details of Phaendar in case anyone missed them in the IC thread. Just to reiterate, everything below is considered to be 'common knowledge' and as such doesn't require a Knowledge roll or a DC for any of your characters. They would know all of this.

Spoiler: Phaendar

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A (Oreld's Fine Shop): Owned by three generations of healers and herbalists in the Oreld family, Oreld's Fine Shop supplies Phaendar with remedies, dye, glue, paint, and sometimes varied alchemical creations. The shop's owner, Vane Oreld, is also the closest thing Phaendar has to a doctor. He resents the imposition and swears vociferously when his healing skills are required, but he's too much of a perfectionist to let anyone else fill the role. Apparently, he's been working on some new kinds of alchemical concoctions, several of which have kept up various town members due to their rather explosive capacity.

B (Phaendar Trading Company): The heart of Phaendar is the trading post, where farmers, hunters, and artisans come to trade, and where travelers stop in to resupply. The store primarily sells seed, timber, farm supplies, and contracts for raw materials, but all sorts of odds and ends wind up in the small shop. The stone wall of the smithy is one of the oldest structures in Phaendar, being part of a small fortress built to guard the road when the Chelish army first erected the bridge. The fort collapsed long ago and its stones and supports were looted to construct other buildings, but the town smithy still uses the original fortress forge. The current owner of the Phaendar Trading Company is the cantankerous and scheming local smith Kining Blondebeard.

C (Riverwood Shrine): Most of the buildings in town are strictly functional in design, but the shrine was designed to be beautiful as well, being constructed from logs dredged from the thick silt of the ice-cold Marideth River. The shrine is intended for any worshipers to use, but most people in town venerate Erastil or Desna, and so statues and symbols of these two faiths decorate the walls in the form of homemade amulets, artwork, and offerings. A stone shrine to the Green Faith - far older than the larger temple or anything else in the area - stands beside the temple, accommodating local Green worshipers.

D (Taproot Inn): The Taproot - referred to simply as "the Root" by locals - is the only two-story building in town, and serves a wide variety of meals and alcohol gathered from travelers crossing the bridge. It’s also the largest indoor gathering place in town after the temple, and most of locals spend far more time in the Root during any given week than the temple. Ownership of the Taproot changes often as proprietors struggle or grow bored. It currently belongs to Jet, a recent transplant to Phaendar of mixed Shoanti and Varisian descent with twin black braids, black eyes, and an iconic teal scarf worn around her waist.

E (Phaendar Bridge): The Chelish army originally constructed this arch bridge some 300 years ago as part of the trade road connecting the empire to its Varisian colonies. Even after the army withdrew and its fortress crumbled, a town remained to maintain and take advantage of the reliable crossing over the tumultuous Marideth River. Phaendar began an intense maintenance process last year, recruiting the town smith, Kining Blondebeard, to oversee the project thanks to her extensive stoneworking experience. Kining performed some cursory repair work and removed the cracked keystone from the bridge's north side before promptly announcing she would require twice her original estimate to complete repair work on the bridge. The construction shed and crane have sat untended beside the bridge for 9 months as the town struggles to gather funds, while a temporary wooden support frame takes the place of the vacant keystone.

[Starbin]

KS Local - (1d20+8)[23] for the ...win!

[3SecondCultist]

Okay, Initiative time! I've already rolled for the enemy's Initiative (they have a 16), and as per Gilraen's instructions, your allies will be staying out of this one as well, leaving only you guys and the hobgoblins. I'll roll for the four remaining party members, as Gilraen has a 21. I've moved people forward on the map to ensure that most of you have partial cover from the pews (+2 AC against any shots from the enemy archer) or soft cover from your allies (a +4 bonus instead, which doesn't stack with the pews).

Mortimer: (1d20+1)[4]
Rask: (1d20+5)[25]
Narek: (1d20+9)[23]
Eyena: (1d20+1)[4]

Edit: I have not yet figured out why the dice seem to hate Mortimer and Eyena so much, or why Rask appears to be blessed with a god-like streak of natural 20 after natural 20, but damn if it isn't the most uncanny thing.