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Saturdays!

17 (77.3%)

Sundays!

5 (22.7%)

Total Members Voted: 22

[Dwarmin]

((I'm saving my big journal update for when we're actually confirmed to have left the cave!))

Spoiler: Weight of the World (click to show/hide)

Andre's Father patted his son on the head before going to work at the local carpenty, and said "Weight of the world, son. You'll soon find, a Man has the weight of the world on his shoulders. It makes him strong. Don't ever let anyone try to take the burden away from you."

Mom and dad fought again that night.

....

Andre was afraid. Dad wasn't himself lately...ever since Mom had left, he had been drinking too much. He wasn't going to work anymore. And now, he wasn't opening his door.

"Dad? Are you still asleep Dad?"

Slowly, Andre opened the door...Dad wasn't sleeping.

They couldn't afford a decent burial. The local priesthood offered cheap cremation and a small service.

...

The landlord came a week later, flanked by his Half-Orc bodyguards-intent on taking them to an "Orphanage"-in this town, another name for a place that employed youth labor, working them 20 hours a day till they maimed themselves, or just dropped dead from exhaustion.

Andre took Stihe and ran. They only had each other now. A week later, Andre stole a loaf of bread and a block of cheese from a street vendor. He had felt guilty about it. It tasted like Heaven. So, he got over it. He had to protect Stihe now...keep her fed, keep her safe. He despaired for himself, only holding hope for her.

...

It was Stihes 7th birthday. Andre had pulled off his best job yet-with the help of his new partner, Konston. For a little while, he could relax-this would set them up for at least a month. Things we're looking up already, especially if Konston could get a meeting with the local guild leaders in order...

"So, what did you bring me, big brother? When you were out finding things?" Stihe pipped cutely, fluttering her eyelids-even then Stihe was a natural manipulator.

"It's a very special thing. I think you'll like this." Andre held out the small Ruby on the Gold Chain for her to hold. It glowed magnificently in the firelight. She put it on, and hugged him, and everything was all right. Everything.

They had to sell it a month later

....

"Pull your legs up when you roll. You can't afford to break a leg when you've got a dozen guardsmen on you. Do it again."

Andre was carefully instructing Stihe on the finer arts of evasion today. She was a quickly learner. He wouldn't have allowed her to become...like him, but she was so insistent. He could'nt really say no to her, so Andre had made himself the best teacher he could hope to be.

"Let's see if you can keep up with me today, sister!"

Together, they ran the small gauntlet he had had set up again. Andre won that day...but he could already see the day when he wouldn't. She was just a touch more daring, a touch more graceful...and, she had already shown a willingness to go beyond what Andre might have considered wrong and right. That was good enough for him.

....

As usual, Andre was the one who nicked the dagger-it didn't look like it had killed a Demon-Dragon 1000 years ago...but, if the person who was buying it thought so, what did he care.

It was a shame he couldn't take more, but when you were stealing for magical items...you couldn't get greedy. As they began to slip out of the estate. Stihe giggled, and knocked over a lantern. It caught an expensive tapestry afire almost instantly.

"Oops. Maybe we should summon the fire service, brother?" Andre couldn't help but laugh. Rich bastards. Could probably afford to buy a dozen more houses.

The whole wing went up in the end-Andre read in the paper a doorman had died in the fire, but he didn't really register it then. A few years later, after he had become a Druid, he would blame himself, and seek amends for not teaching Stihe to be more careful...

He would think at that moment, "I'm holding the weight of the world, pa. Look at me now, I'm just like you wanted me to be.".

[RedWarrior0]

Oh, by the way, some time after the caves, I'm going to need a wizard (looking at you, Raspul, mainly because you're the only active wizard, I believe) to prepare a Ray of Frost. Multiple times, if creating a magical item requires the spells every day of work. However, this can wait until after my personal cache of gold increases by nine thousand. I'll have a bit to spare, so you can have ten (seriously, it's a cantrip. No more than ten). Thanks to whatever wizard (or sorcerer, if you took RoF) accepts.

[Theoboldi]

Oh, by the way, some time after the caves, I'm going to need a wizard (looking at you, Raspul, mainly because you're the only active wizard, I believe) to prepare a Ray of Frost. Multiple times, if creating a magical item requires the spells every day of work. However, this can wait until after my personal cache of gold increases by nine thousand. I'll have a bit to spare, so you can have ten (seriously, it's a cantrip. No more than ten). Thanks to whatever wizard (or sorcerer, if you took RoF) accepts.

Sorry, I banned Evocations so I can't do it.

[RedWarrior0]

I'll just hire a non-party wizard, it's okay. 5 gp isn't all that much.

[Haika]

Right then, do we have a session time set up for this yet? I know Shoruke said he worked last Sat, are we planning for Sat this week? Not sure if anything was set in stone or not.

[Dwarmin]

Well, I thought we were doing it on Tuesday of this week.

Better let Shoruke make the final determination.

[Shoruke]

Wands that are not made by members of your party, or by a specific NPC whose caster level is explicitly stated, is assumed to have been made by someone with the minimum possible caster level. In the case of the Shatter spell, 3.

Ashworm Dragoons are fine to use.
I need a reference to those two ACFs...
I'll give Ashworm Companion the following specifications: the Druidic Animal Companion advancement table will replace the normal one for the Dragoon's Ashworm. Ashworms have an Effective Druid Level Adjustment of -3. The prerequisite for this feat is an Effective Druid Level of 3.5 (or, 7 levels in ranger), so that you have a high enough Effective Druid Level to actually use the Animal Companion Ashworm when you take the feat.

Cloak Dance is fine... I considered modifying it, but meh.
Deadly Precision is fine, although I don't know why you'd want it... maybe for Stihe...?
Mind Over Body is fine.
Rapid Metabolism is okay, although the way it's written implies that you gain no more hitpoints from 24 hours of solid rest than from 8, like normal people...
Sidestep Charge is okay.
Stand Still works, under the restriction that non-physical damage your weapon would deal (for instance if you use a Flaming weapon) does not count towards the DC. You cannot use the flame around your weapon to grab someone by the collar, only to burn them  Also, you can't put additional damage dice from Sneak Attack or Sudden Strike towards the DC.

*fondly remembers the days when you only needed 1 book to play a tabletop game* Heh... Now there's just soo many rules options, feats, homebrew, resources, expansions... oi. Hard to keep up with it all.

Amen.

Holy skeletal carp on an UglyStick, batman, those are some HEFTY flaws.
Cursed is fine to use, but not recommended.
Twice Cursed *would* be fine to use (but not recommended), except that any given person can only have one flaw.
Thrice Cursed? (I think you meant, "reroll in accordance with the *twice* cursed flaw"...) See Twice Cursed.
Broken Alignment is *not* okay to use, because it would derail the game's future plot more effectively than the sum of the destructive force of every nuke Earth has had on it at any point would derail a common train. I am not being hyperbolaic. *More* effectively.
Haunted is not allowed, because making it balanced as a flaw requires me to be a major douchebag during battles, and completely gyp someone from the game part of the actual game.
Lazy is fine, but... ouch.
Weakness is fine, but only because all of you have Heroic Durability. I like the part where it can actually kill you.
Spoiled is fine.
Wasted Youth and Aged Poorly are fine.
Was it a waste of time answering all of those? Nope. Being not-hyperbolaic is fun! 

Friend of Spirits is fine, although I don't recall every seeing an effect that causes a cha-based check to no longer be cha-based and yet still be called cha-based.

I kinda like Races of Destiny. Those 3 feats are fine. On that note, Maelrigar might be interested in the Menacing Demeanor feat from that book, which is available only to those of orcish blood, and gives +4 to Intimidate. He seems to like Intimidate.

And, the session. I haven't heard any complaints against Tuesday, and I seem to have something pretty much every other day of the week, so Tuesday at the regular time. Unless you guys persuade me to start an hour earlier.

[The Fool]

I'll be here an hour before the normal time, so I'd be ok with it. I'll post a journal before the session starts.

On an unrelated note Red's campaign may still be happening if your still interested Shoruke.

[RAM]

Holy skeletal carp on an UglyStick, batman, those are some HEFTY flaws.
Cursed is fine to use, but not recommended.
Twice Cursed *would* be fine to use (but not recommended), except that any given person can only have one flaw.
Thrice Cursed? (I think you meant, "reroll in accordance with the *twice* cursed flaw"...) See Twice Cursed.
Broken Alignment is *not* okay to use, because it would derail the game's future plot more effectively than the sum of the destructive force of every nuke Earth has had on it at any point would derail a common train. I am not being hyperbolaic. *More* effectively.
Haunted is not allowed, because making it balanced as a flaw requires me to be a major douchebag during battles, and completely gyp someone from the game part of the actual game.
Lazy is fine, but... ouch.
Weakness is fine, but only because all of you have Heroic Durability. I like the part where it can actually kill you.
Spoiled is fine.
Wasted Youth and Aged Poorly are fine.
Was it a waste of time answering all of those? Nope. Being not-hyperbolaic is fun! 

Friend of Spirits is fine, although I don't recall every seeing an effect that causes a cha-based check to no longer be cha-based and yet still be called cha-based.

The requirements of the cursed line don't make much sense, but it seemed appropriate at the time...
It is still possible to tolerate the existence of someone who you dislike, and even cooperate with their associates, still a pain though... It does suffer in terms of magic-level, a high-magic setting where you visit other planes all the time this could be crippling, while in low-magic settings it may not come up at all...
I do not think weakness can kill an ordinary character, but having maximum hit points of -9 would make life difficult even if you had the diehard feat... Heh, spending your life waiting that one moment that a standard action would be worth your life, scrounging around for temporary hit points, Always counting your steps so you don't risk death by double-moving...

I was looking for a way to say "Even if you find a way to change the ability you use, it doesn't get you out of the penalty." but my fey mood was pretty much over by the time I was putting the details together so...

[The Fool]

It might not be much of a journal, but we had more battle than RPing.

Spoiler: Fire and Water: The Flying Kraken (click to show/hide)

Moving past the dead purple dwarves I made my way to the next door. Looking back I saw Raspul checking a corpse, while Mysteller rambled madly which still kind of freaks me out. Upon turning to head through the door Mysteller stopped chanting and shouted for me to wait. She told me that there were communal sleeping quarters, and that the room was circular. I mean how can she... oh. She’s right. That’s... weird.

   The room had several dressers, and beds with object scattered about around both of them. It seems as if everyone left in a hurry. There was also an eerie purple light coming from the center of the room. I walked towards the light only to hear the sound of the annoying evil orb again. After a moment of pointless conversation from the orb he summoned a monster. It was a tentacle monster, and it charged at me. It attacked me and grabbed onto me. Looking forward at the beast I saw rows and rows of teeth. If I don’t force this thing off me I think I might get eaten. It seems as though everyone was too preoccupied to help me out. I heard the shattering of glass, but in the meantime more of the tentacles latched onto me, pulling me closer and closer to its mouth, which was salivating at this point. No one seemed to be helping, and when I called out for help someone said they were busy. BUSY. I guess that I’ll just escape on my own. Seeming an opening I weaved my way out of its arms. Freedom never seemed so great.

   Now that I was free everyone started firing at the beast. I’m thinking that I might want to beat up the guy who said that he was too busy. Arrows, monsters, and swords flew at the beast now that I wasn’t going to be eaten. All I really want to know is, WHY NOT EARLIER!? Either way the tentacle beast latched onto Maelrigar next. Even more things were summoned, but everyone seemed more concerned about dousing the orb. Next thing I know Maelrigar is being pulled in by 4 of the tentacles, but at least the orb was doused. Now everyone can focus on the flying mouth of teeth. With a few more chops Alistair finished it off. I ran up to it and punched the hell out of it in celebration. It was only when a fire elemental was summoned to burn the corpse. While they may be brethren to me, they still kind of creep me out. If Mysteller had noticed the elemental I’m sure that she might have to slap the summoner for bringing it here.

   While everyone was searching for loot I wandered outside to look for more things to kill. I suddenly remembered the cave off to the side that the other adventurers were blocking off. If nothing else we can see if they’re dead, clear the rest, and claim their kills.

EDIT: Any chance I can have journal exp alongside battle exp this session? And are we having the session an hour early?

[Heron TSG]

I won't be there, most likely. I'm currently posting from a public library about 7 miles from where I'm staying for the week without internet. Menacing Demeanor would be great if I had feats to burn, but there isn't much of a difference between having +16 and +20 to intimidate. I think I'll be acquiring Oversized Two Weapon Fighting and retraining Power Attack to Two Weapon fighting, if that's okay. That way I can do some crazy dual-wield-greatswords-as-well-as-daggers combat.

[Shoruke]

Doesn't look like we're starting early today then, the only chatter I've seen is "it would work for me" from one person.

So, game in 4 hours.

(To do: update the experience tracker and the OP, finish drawing that cave and put an encounter in it, touch up the pog repository, and try to find a way to make you guys stay within 12 kilometers of the railroad tracks.

[Shoruke]

Server is up.
Game in 20.
Prepare your Gather Knowledge check macros, ladies and gents.

EDIT: dude. Where's my players?

[syvarris]

Spoiler: Vaba's Journal (click to show/hide)

After the battle Mysteller decided to heal me.  I got up and saw Andre and a few others around a corpse, and walked over.  Apparently the corpse was Stihe, although she was shivering and making nonsensical noises;  Not dead then I guess.  Someone ran over with a potion they had looted from one of the dead dwarves and gave it to her.  The potion worked wonderfully and in a few minutes she was back on her feet.

Andre left Stihe in the care of the others and left to go help Raspul with a corpse.  That seems odd, isn't Andre a druid, and aren't druids opposed to necromancy?  I don't know, Andre seems a bit odd anyways.  Mysteller went Stark Raving Mad! and began blabbering backwards.  Ignoring her, we set up to head through a vault door in the back of the caverns.  Rumus opened the door and revealed a large circular room lined with many beds and cabinets, and a glass skylight with another purple orb in the roofs center.  There were items strewn about the perimeter, apparently whoever was here left in a hurry.  I warned Rumus about leading but he spurned my wisdom and foolhardily marched forwards into whatever bloody fate he would receive.  Since the room was empty of any enemies we began searching, and Raspul started casting some spells at the orb.  I found a half-empty bottle of "sovereign glue" and instructions on it's use.  Maybe I'll glue Raspul's pet corpse's limbs together.

Suddenly a loud voice echoed throughout the room, apparently coming from the orb.  He greeted us warmly, congratulating us on making it this far, saying we would get cake loot if we survived.  Then the voice disappeared.  A bright flash announced the appearance of his newest pet: six tentacles coming out of a portal to gith-knows-where.  It came into being next to Rumus, who was nearest the orb. I, in my great wisdom, was at the back of the group with a few hundred pounds of orc in between me and the tentacles.

I figured the orb was probably supplying power for the portal, and if we stopped it's power we would have 50% less monster to deal with;  So I told Raspul to fetch the orb when I broke the glass.  My first arrow missed, and my second went clean through, cracking, but not breaking, the glass.  A bolt from Andre finished off the glass, and the orb fell to the ground with a satisfying clank.  While Raspul ran to grab the orb I diverted my attention to the tentacle monster; My arrows slipped between the writhing tentacles and into whatever plane the creature was on, and moments later there was much more writhing.     It let go of Rumus and grasped Maelrigar next, as me and the others pummeled it with various weapons and summoned monsters.  Maelrigar managed to shrug off his pack and lucky dragged it over to Raspul, who took out the barrel of holy water and dropped in the orb... to no effect. 

The tentacles were still wraping around Maelrigar, slowly squeezing him to death.  Alistair hacked off a limb, then I took careful aim, then shot straight into the center of the beast when it screamed.  Apparently these don't like arrows to the roof of the mouth; there was a spurt of blood, then it fell to the ground and materialized fully onto the material plane.  Rumus rushed over to it and began bludgeoning the poor space-octopus' lifeless corpse.  Ethan ended Rumus' terrible tantrum and summoned a fire elemental to burn away the creatures corpse.  Izaak and the others went around the room and started arguing about who gets what loot.  Not me, I sat down and read the instructions to sovereign glue.  Apparently you need one-thousand GP worth of magic oil simply to use the stuff!  Guess I'll have to waste it all on Raspul.  Ahh well, that'll be fun.

[Kogan Loloklam]

Spoiler: Stihe's Thoughts (click to show/hide)

I can't... No... No... NO! I must get away... They are going to... Why... Must move... Can't move... LET ME GO!

Spoiler: The Ruby Necklace (click to show/hide)

Stihe teared up. The Guard wouldn't let her brother go. He had been caught cutting purses in the village market. It was a 150 gold fine to get him out of jail. Very steep. Stihe didn't know what to do, she walked out of the Jail. Her brother was the one that found the money. She needed money, somehow, to get him out. She was determined. She went to Konston, since he was always around and might know what to do. He offered the money to pay the fine for the necklace. She traded her brother's birthday present to get her brother back, and swore she'd find a way to be able to make her own money. It wasn't long after that she pestered him to teach her his trade.