[Tome, Setting, Sessions] After the End

[virgil]

Big News
I have switched the system for the campaign out of Iron Heroes and into Tome. This is no way a slight against the IH system, but as the sessions and setting evolved, I realized that things are going to eventually head towards the party filling the void left by the greater gods. The core IH system has been able to handle my campaigns of heroes, kings, and conquerors; where no player truly has powers beyond the reach of their sword. But IH cannot handle a setting/genre where the PCs can do more than kill bigger and better things, such as the gradual advancement to godhood.

For this reason, the system will now be Tome, and last week was spent working with the players in converting their characters. The player of Winter was already making a new character, so no big change for him. The weapon master and harrier are roughly converting themselves to Tome equivalents. The player of Vesban (the thief) chose to make a new character to fit with the changing system, partially because 'skill monkey' means essentially nothing in Tome, but mainly because he's always enjoyed making characters (probably the safest PC to kill).

History
Slightly over a hundred years ago, the world ended, Ragnarok. A final conflict that slew the great gods of Creation, scorched the World Tree, and left the remaining worlds partially collapsed into each other without their stewards. The only gods that remain are the small ones, such as the god of a town, a specific forest, or a very narrow aspect; such as the God of Unchallenged Boasts, or the God of the Awkward Pause.

Before the end of the world, the job of the gods was to oversee their domain and ensure that it functioned smoothly and as according to Fate. Rivers would flood during the right season, trees take a reasonable time to bloom, and various disasters are muffled when they arrive so as to limit their damage. The gods functioned in a hierarchy of efficient organization, which came crashing down with the razing of Heaven and the death of the nobility amongst the gods.

What sparked the end of the world was the death of the God of Love, one of the oldest and most primal of the Jotun. The God of Fate was so infatuated by the god, the fact it was known that Ragnarok would begin at the death of Love was disturbing, and so even the God of Fate attempted to avert this destiny. Writing into the Book of the Preordained, Fate scoured Creation and wrote down the name of everything that could be found, followed by the words "cannot bring harm to the God of Love." Even Chaos itself was named in the book. Fate made a mistake, and passed over pyrite, thinking it gold. And so it came to be that somehow a golden ball struck the God of Love a death blow.

Divinity Today
A god does not perish with his domain, nor does its domain cease to be with the death of a god. Because of this and the lack of an enforcing authority, the gods are not as beholden to their jobs as before Ragnarok. Religion today is essentially a protection racket or simple bribery to motivate the local gods to continue their jobs as before, though this is generally unneccessary for the tiniest of gods (of a pair of shoes or the average tree or rock) who are too small of mind to even consider acting outside their purview.

Scars and remnants of the time before the end of the world persist. New monsters have sprung from the corpses, and some parts of creation still show horrific scars from their struggles. A number of the great gods had items of station with tremendous power, but they almost universally remain unclaimed by anyone, for they are too powerful to be wielded. It is a commonly known fact that the God of Personal Mottos met his end when attempting to wield the God of Fire's Sword of Flame, incinerated by a heat he thought he could withstand.

Demons Spirits who left their station, for essentially any reason. The majority did it for selfish reasons and are thus evil, but there do exist who became demons in order to get transferred to a different domain; a commonly known example is the Demon of Doors, who used to be the God of Gargoyles until an unfortunate incident with one of the Silent Ones.

Formians The first race crafted by the dwarves to take their steed once they grew too big to fit in the World Tree and instead take up residence in the branches and the worlds within. They've since become known for their clockwork technology and have perverted their original design goal to instead of caring for the World Tree to destroy the Vast. A comparatively fractious species due to the size/scope of the tree, some hives decided to destroy any possible templates for the Vast to mimic, and it's not uncommon for them to take a scorched earth policy for areas where they appear.

The World
Deep ocean travel just isn't done except under desperation anymore. The God of the Sea was the keeper of the Sea Charts, and his death resulted in them becoming out-of-date. As a result, relative distances can no longer be wholly trusted, and there exist tales of ships ending up in one of the other worlds only tentatively separated by the burnt branches of the World Tree.

Reality formed from the raw, shapeless chaos. It has been the job of the gods to give reality a purpose so as to not reform. With the death of the greater gods and many lesser gods, there are actual cracks in this protection. As a result, some chaos seeps into the unmonitored weave of fate and order. This chaos-stuff reacts strangely with the rules and order, creating a form of reactive sentience, people collectively call the Formless. The Formless that gain sentience call themselves the Vast, and all Vast seek to assimilate the patterns they encounter, almost like gray goo Borg. Oozes, mimics, phasms, and similar entities are all manifestations of the Vast; the advanced ones using their sentience to recreate the patterns they've absorbed in order to better obtain more.

Languages
Before Ragnarok, there was a fair bit of racial tribalism. As the end of world was only three human generations ago, the inertia remains enough for the languages to remain relatively 'pure'. Humans, being as short-lived and spread-out and numerous as they are, already had several major dialects before the forced isolation and time has made it distinct enough for them to truly count as different languages.
Speech - The vulgar tongue, or the equivalent of Common. No true written language
High Speech - The classical form of Speech, known by the nobility and scholars. Any literacy in Speech is knowing High Speech, as the difference in grammar and pronounciation is rather profound.
Sea Speech - Language of mariners hailing from unknown shores, some say they come from another branch of the World Tree. Their language & writing has a heavy emphasis on math, which makes knowing the language conducive towards accounting (and numerology amongst the superstitious)
Ferran Speech - The language of the savage barbarian tribes to the East, their only written language is used for landmarks/signs
God Tongue - Also called First Speech, as it remains unchanged from when reality was young. Writing in God Tongue is difficult, requiring an act of will to put it down, and aids greatly in the shaping of magic. Your own emotions are embedded into the language when you write, making false statements (including fiction) require actual Bluff checks to make them ring true.
Hell Tongue - Language of demons and their spawn, their writing actually consists of using one's own name in various ways (almost like the Pokemon). It uses the same script as God Tongue, but using your own name allows you to ascribe any amount of emotion or 'truthiness' you want unless you wish to write with another subject's name; in which case Bluff is used as normal to hide the identity
Primal Tongue - Speech of the dragons and many other elemental spirits not of the gods. Reading the script of Primal Tongue is much like reading a trail.
Jotun Tongue - Language of the giants and titans, who spawned of their own accord and their ways were inspiration for the creators of Man. While doable in portable print, no giant writes unless it becomes an act of architecture.
Death Speech - Secret language of the Death Gods, who teach their code and signs to high-ranking assassins and executioners. Their actual written tongue is a system of ciphers and code phrases in whatever language best blends in.

New Stuff
Incantation: Bind the Vexsome Dead

Necromancy
Effective Level: 6th
Skill Check: Knowledge (religion) DC 30, 4 successes; Use Rope DC 30, 2 successes
Backlash: Two negative levels + exhausted (touch of the grave)
Components: V, S, M (500gp annointed ribbons), SC (4 extra casters)
Casting Time: 60 minutes
Range: Close
Target or Targets: All undead within range, no two of which can be more than 30' apart
Duration: Permanent
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
During the casting on the night of a full moon, four acolytes meditate, each blocking out a sense. One acolyte remains blindfolded, another fills his nose with the scent of smelling salts, a third drugs himself into numbness and wears earplugs to block out all sound, while the fourth remains in a zen meditation to block out all thought for the duration of the ritual.

The ritual can only target undead within the confines of an structure (no dimension greater than 100') with various portals of egress, during the span of the ritual, the primary caster ties a white, annointed silk ribbon around each door and window so as to ensure they remain closed unless physically forced. Upon completion of the ritual, the undead are bound within the area much like a demon within a magic circle, unable to harm the barrier nor able to use any of its attacks or abilities across the threshold.

If either a ribbon is untied or the undead are attacked across the threshold, then the effect is broken and the undead are free. At the time of dawn/noon/dusk, with a DC 20 Knowledge (religion) check, one of the ribbons can be safely untied for a round to allow people to cross the threshold.

White Ribbon of Warding

A fragile construct, a short length of silk ribbon with tokens of cold iron. It is used as a means of protecting oneself from hostile spirits. When tied to a doorknob, all spirits will treat the door as if it were arcane locked, and cannot possess the door or the wall it connects to. If directly tied around a spirit, then the ribbon will act as a set of manacles while also preventing the spirit from being able to use its possession abilities.

Once tied, the ribbon's magic will end at the next dawn.

Market Price: 75gp; Craft: Spellcraft

Spirit Subtype

Grants a subtype to specifically target them for special effects, also granting a special power called Manifestation. It's not unheard of for a spirit to have the possession ability (as in BoVD), without leaving behind their physical body. But as a general rule they can only possess that which is relevant to their domain (including a person acting out the god's interest at the time he attempts to possess him).
Manifestation (Sp): Able to slip between the Material world and the Ethereal. They can cross from the Ethereal Plane with a move action, but only in an area dedicated to them or relevant to their domain. A spirit can return to the Ethereal plane anywhere, but it will take 2 rounds to cross back, during which time they are immobile. As they fades away, it becomes harder to hit: Opponents have a 20% miss chance in the first round and a 50% miss chance in the second. A spirit can only planewalk them self plus 50 pounds of objects.

House Rules
Old Iron Heroes House Rules

Iron Heroes Hack Essentially using everything on this site.
Armiger Not even Hong's variant fixes the fundamental flaw one sees in tank design throughout RPGs, no incentive to actually attack. Thus, I'm using this variant instead.
Reach The rules for this are kind of borked for PCs, in various ways. Thus, we are returning the normal rules for them, especially in letting weapons like the halberd retain their reach quality; also, reach weapons double your natural reach, while preventing you from threatening only half your natural reach (rather than your full natural reach). This means that your typical Medium-size guisarme fighter will threaten adjacent squares, but not his personal one.
Improved Trip I have no clue why this was split up the way it was, which compounded to make tripping the one melee trick that you actually did worse in IH as compared to 3.5.

• Prerequisites: If you take Improved Trip as a Power feat, you can use it with trip weapons, power weapons, and weapons that lack the finesse keyword. If you take it as a Fineese feat, you can use it with trip weapons, finesse weapons and weapons that lack the power keyword. You can take this feat twice, once as a Power feat and again as a Finesse feat, in order to use it with more weapons.
  Base Mastery 2 (Power). You do not provoke an attack of opportunity when you attempt to trip an opponent while you are unarmed, nor does your opponent have the chance to trip you in turn if the trip attack fails. You gain a +4 bonus to your ability check to trip an opponent when you use a two-handed weapon to make the trip attempt. If you trip an opponent in melee combat, you immediately get a melee attack against that foe as if you hadn't used your attack for the trip attempt.
  Base Mastery 2 (Finesse). You do not provoke an attack of opportunity when you attempt to trip an opponent while you are unarmed, nor does your opponent have the chance to trip you in turn if the trip attack fails. You can opt to make a Dexterity check rather than a Strength check to trip an opponent. If you trip an opponent in melee combat, you immediately get a melee attack against that foe as if you hadn't used your attack for the trip attempt.
  Expanded Mastery 4. You gain a +4 bonus on your ability check to trip your opponent.
  Expanded Mastery 6, 8. Unchanged.

Hero Points An old rule I've used for some time with Iron Heroes, it is the equivalent of Shadowrun's Edge stat. Each player gets one point, which is reset each session, that they can spend on either their own or another player's roll of the d20. When spent, the die is rerolled, and if the d20 comes up less than 10 then 10 is added to the result.
Undeath Using the Tome rules, specifically the Playing with Fire option

Hero Points An old rule I've used for some time with Iron Heroes, it is the equivalent of Shadowrun's Edge stat. Each player gets one point, which is reset each session, that they can spend on either their own or another player's roll of the d20. When spent, the die is rerolled, and if the d20 comes up less than 10 then 10 is added to the result. It can also be used for similar kinds of fudging to a single character, generally plot modification for major events like character death or something.

Starting Characters
Each player rolled 4d6 (drop lowest) six times, and the best set out of the four was the stat array to be used (18, 17, 16, 15, 13, 10).
Melisande, Level 2 Human Samurai

Background: Youngest of seven in a very minor noble house, and aside from her and her eldest brother who had a life beyond the estate, the entire family was slain under mysterious circumstances. Justice is sought.[/b]
HP 13; AC 18 (+3 Dex, +5 armor); Saves +2/+3/+4
Abilities: Str 18, Dex 17, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 16
Feats: Juggernaut, Combat School, Background (Royalty of a Fallen Nation)
Skills: Athletics +5 (Swim +1), Diplomacy +12, Sense Motive +6, Knowledge (nobility) +5
Equipment: Ancestral Halberd, Breastplate

Dawnsun, Level 2 Aasimar Spiritualist

Background: Non-demoninational priest, giving reverance to all of the gods, whether they're still alive or not.
HP 12; AC 15 (+2 Dex, +3 armor); Saves +2/+5/+7
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 19, Cha 20
Feats: Spell Focus (Conjuration)
Skills: Notice +7, Gather Information +10, Concentration +7, Diplomacy +10 (+12 w/gods), Knowledge (religion) +5, Speak Language (Speech, God Tongue)
Equipment: Bone Armor (Negative resist)
Spirit Guide: Ape

Gardener, Level 2 Feytouched Soulborn

Background: An order of wizards sought to cheat death and become masters of the world, so they build a sanctum around the Final Sands Hourglass, the artifact of station for the God of Death. Using secret magics, they obtained a god-blooded mortal with the hopes of tying his partially divine essence with the Hourglass with magics of their own design. The ultimate goal, dubbed the Gardener Project, was to have a new God of Death under their command to slay their enemies while keeping their own lifelines sacrosanct. It went horribly wrong and everyone but the test subject died in the sanctum, the one survivor's own soul overcharged with uncontrolled power that he continues to try and shape to his will.
For the time being, the setting's treatment of incarnum magic is that it's for entities whose soul is too big for their bodies to fully contain, frequently mortals via dangerous exposure to divine magic (sometimes the thin places to Chaos, or even the more spiritual fires smoldering on the World Tree). Most die, most of the survivors end up as monsters with glowing smoke streaming out, and a rare few end up taking the incarnum classes.
HP 19; AC 19 (+3 Dex, +3 shield, +3 armor); Saves +10/+8/+8
Abilities: Str 17(18), Dex 17, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 20
Special Abilities: Feytouched - Death Watch 1/day; Soulmelds - Awesome Turquoise Braids (Str, Displacement), Expansive Ultramarine Wings (Dex, Bolt of Agony), Depressing Black Gloves (SR, Counterspelling)
Feats:
Skills: Knowledge (religion, planes) +6, Intimidate +10, Notice +5, Search +6
Equipment: Studded Leather Armor, Black Dragonscale Shield

Harry, Level 2 Tiefling Fighter

Player has own character sheet, who is not on hand. I'll get the info later.

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Session I
Harry, while spending some time in the tavern during his appointed business hours (doesn't make enough as a mercenary to have his own office yet), is approached by a cloaked man with a boyish face and blonde hair by the name of Mystery. The man claims to be a problem solver of sorts, and wishes to direct a group of available blokes to take care of a nasty haunting in a nearby castle, and offers 100gp to him and each of Harry's associates. Melisande wishes for, instead of gold, to be given information pertaining the murder of her noble family. Mystery agrees to this, and as proof that he has some information, informs her that one of Melisande's cousins used to stay in the castle.

Their job is at Castle Julian, inside a small mountain valley whose only reliable means of egress is a deep river that bisects the entire geographic feature. Much of the valley is filled with groves of plentiful peach trees, a small community built near the castle whose livelihood relies on such produce. Five years ago, the God of Ripened Fruit moved into the valley, making it somewhat of a celebrity whose worship overshadows the local god of the peach groves itself. Julian himself had a temple added onto his castle in veneration of the new god, and is his biggest convert.

Because travelling by foot (except for Vesban, who owns a horse) will take quite some time, they convince a river merchant to go upriver earlier than normal, reminding him that they can protect his ship from any bad luck that may beset them. This is fortunate, as they are attacked by two river drakes.

Statistically identical to a medium crocodile. I'm tempted to reskin many mundane beasts as draconic equivalents

The battle is particularly tough, sending three of the four players into unconsciousness, with a hero point spent by Melisande on her AoO to actually hit and K.O. the final drake (otherwise, she'd be knocked out too, and it'd be a TPK). With some help and decent rolls, using Harry's spare healing kits, she manages to stabilize everyone and they're conscious in a few minutes. The merchant is at a loss to explain why they attacked, but it does worry him.

The party arrives at Castle Julian, and introduce themselves as people seeking to solve the haunting trouble, which pleases Lord Julian. He offers them the amenities of his castle for the time necessary to attempt to rid his castle of the risen dead. As it turns out, there have been minor amounts of hauntings for some time, but as of three months ago they became especially violent and slew some of the castle guards. There was a priest available who trapped the spirits in the west wing, but was unable to banish them. To this day, they remain within the west wing (the barracks and armory), unable to cross the threshold created by white ribbons wrapped around every surrounding door and window.

Lord Julian, he is an unlucky man and some consider him cursed, not least of which are the ghosts that haunt his castle. He has been married five times and each of his wives died to an unfortunate accident within a day of the marriage. As the party later finds out, Melisande's eldest cousin was actually Julian's second bride. He mourns for them still, and it is known amongst the people of the area not to speak of them; and this goes double for attempts at making accusations, as the party nearly did when asking around.

The source of the particulars they got from the local winemaker, a man very down on his luck because he has been denied any of the peaches from the valley because he disrespected the God of Ripened Fruit (preferred the local god). He's been extra conflicted recently because his beautiful daughter has recently become of age and Lord Julian has been asking for her hand in marriage. The party feels for the guy and his daughter, and are dead certain by this point that Julian has been going Bluebeard and the hauntings are his wives; as through him they get a timeline. Five years ago the God of Ripened Fruit came to the valley, a month later Lord Julian married his first wife, hints of the hauntings began shortly before the death of his second wife two years later, and his fifth wife died three months ago (a couple weeks before the hauntings turned violent).

Not much is learned at the graveyard, but their next point of interest is the temple to the God of Ripened Fruit, where they attempt to convince the priest to give them an audience with the god. He warns them of the difficulty, and after some comparing of notes, they give him some gold to sacrifice along with Vesban performing a song and dance routine for the god. This summons forth the god, who appears to be a bone white satyr with a pair of giant peach petals for wings (and red eyes). He is willing to answer one question to the party, to which they ask whether Lord Julian was the cause of his wives dying. The god tells them that he was approached before and after each marriage in search of blessings out of hope of ending the curse that follows him, so from his perspective Lord Julian's only transgression is hope that the curse won't strike again. This actually gets the party contemplating whether someone else is doing the murder, such as Lord Julian's younger brother (his only living relative) or another force.

At last, the party is ready to begin their attempt at busting some ghosts. With a deft undoing of the ribbon at dawn, the players are locked inside the west wing (trapped with Aaron Sorkin ). They're given a white ribbon of warding. After a time of exploring, five ghoulish women materialize, their long hair dishevelled and their white gowns aged. One has black hair, which Melisande recognizes as her cousin, to which she attempts to talk to her. However, the other four create enough of a mob mentality to power through the recognition and they attack. Except for the dematerialization and revenent-like trait of immortality (rising again the next day, until put to rest), they're statistically identical to ghouls, and the party manage to slay four of them and knock out the one that's Melisande's cousin and tie her up with their white ribbon.

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Session II
It's at this point they calm down Melisande's ghost cousin when she comes to, constrained by the white ribbon. It's nearly completely feral, but they get enough information to learn that she was tortured to death and given an unmarked grave at a big peach tree.

The party figures this is enough for them to take vengeance against Lord Julian, but the threat of his guards uniting against him is problematic, because the proof isn't sufficient for them ("we beat up a ghost who said so, believe us!"). So, they leave the ghost tied up in one of the back rooms and search the area in case the reason they were caught in the wing was because of something of note; able to find some jewelry that had fallen between the cracks of the floorboards.

Waiting until the next point when they could safely open the warded area with a signal, the party exits and states they need to get better prepared, but are much closer to exorcising the ghosts; including a bluff check with Julian to keep him from suspecting that they know the truth.

During the dead of night, they sneak over to largest peach tree in the valley, which was quite barren and twisted spookily. With a short bit of digging, they find a pile of five female corpses in ascending levels of decay. This digging into the tree's root system arouses the ire of the peach tree's god, statistically a grig, who puts up a two round fight before finally getting hit into zero hit points. During the fight, Vesban threw an alchemist's fire onto the tree. Out of despair from the insult and the loss of his home, the god's dejected and tells them that he would've stopped the earlier diggings into his tree as a graveyard were it not for a bigger god telling him otherwise. This bigger god was not the god of the grove, and he could tell it certainly wasn't any God of Ripened Fruit, but some kind of death god (which kind, he's unsure).

Leaving the peach tree god alone and homeless, Winter and Melisande cart the corpses to the graveyard to return them to their proper graves, and are interrupted by a surprisingly stealthy grave digger ready to take one out with a shovel. They convince him to not do so and that their digging is to actually put a corpse in its proper place, showing enough evidence for him to at least check (after putting their weapons out of reach).

Meanwhile, Vesban and Harry sneak into Castle Julian, specifically the Lord's bedchamber shortly before he beds (cutting it close). Thanks to a skill assist challenge by using Climb to stick to the rafters and such, they get their stealth bonuses incredibly high and get by guard and Lord both. Once in his room, they find a secret door, where they close the door behind them to investigate.

Down below, there is a dungeon with a torture chamber with numerous implements and reeking of dried blood. There's an altar to the God of Ripened Fruit, but the inscription (in God-Tongue) declares it actually the God of Exsanguination. There's another door that leads down a tunnel to a secret exit several hundred feet away from the castle.

At dawn, the party goes before the high priest (retired farmer) and the head of the castle guard to inform them that they need to show them something of importance. From there, they escort the two into a secret entrance and reveal the hidden temple to the God of Exsanguination, then up the stairs into Julian's bedchamber. Lord Julian himself is there, displeased with the interlopers, pulling out his sword.

With an impressively high Intimidate check, Vesban convinces Julian to throw his sword aside and surrender, which works. There's some debate amongst the castle residents, because there isn't truly a higher authority than Lord Julian. Melisande claims that she deserves a duel with him, because of the blood vendetta created by him slaying her cousin; which takes a little cajoling. The townspeople also prepare a messenger to seek out Lord Julian's younger brother, believing him to be a suitable replacement.

When the duel begins, Lord Julian is a 3rd level warrior, who only manages to lose because Melisande spends a hero point (and I roll terribly). But she does win by knocking him to -1. At this point, the God of Exanguination materializes nearby to remove his false peach petal wings and accelerate Julian's bleeding such that he dies in a single round. The God of Exsanguination declares himself glad to finally shed the false pretenses, and looks forward to seeing everyone soon, including a sarcastic hope that they don't get themselves cut.

The ghosts have been put to rest when their bodies were buried in their proper graves and Julian was slain with vengeance. As their job was to solve the hauntings, the party washes their hands of the matter and leave with several of Julian's horses. Mystery gives them each their earned gold, and informs Melisande that her family was killed by a rakshasa; an uncommon entity, and very much narrowing her search.

[virgil]

Session III
I've thrown a couple different subplots at the party. Mystery had been disappearing every other day while the party was gone, returning with exotic herbs (all very non-local) in large quantities to sell and live in opulence. Child refugees (ages 7 to 17) from the southern hamlets have been coming in a steady trickle, every single one the sole survivor of their family, where they were out of sight for an hour or two to return to a pile of murder. And rumours of beautiful sea maidens in the ocean to the west, including valuable flotsam, started by one merchant who took a risky shortcut to avoid his cargo from spoiling. Nobody has shown particular interest in any of them except somewhat the last one due to the promise of treasure.

So, they hire said captain to make the detour again on his return trip to the other port. When they reach the area, they search for another day in hopes of finding signs of treasure, and before they thinking about giving up they are hit by a Sargasso. Unable to get a decent sense of distance in the utterly calm sea, Winter notices from the crow's nest a bit of land to the west. As they try to row, they discover that their calm part of the sea is moving on its own and carrying them to the land.

It is a 300' tall sheer cliff that stretches from horizon to horizon in a straight north-south direction. With a bit of work, the party climbs to the top and sees a normal sea on the other side, also revealing that it's also a rock wall. On the other side there's a pillar with a cavern entrance somewhat above sea level. Because it's nearing nightfall, they return to the ship to rest and prepare for tomorrow.

They awaken that night to a slight lurching of the ship, and come out to see it partially hanging over a large, non-spinning whirlpool (as if there were an invisible funnel sticking into the sea). There are numerous others that are varied in size, but the one the ship is hanging over is by far the largest, and is in fact large enough for a very large man to climb down with a rope without touching the water on the sides.

Vesban recalls that this is about the time that the harem of the God of the Sea would be allowed to bed with others, and would call upon sailors to give them a 'mortal' experience for a night; though he's unsure if that tradition continued after his death during Ragnarok. Unsure at first, they gather some rope and begin to climb down the funnel, which goes deeply to the bottom of the sea.

Held up by this same invisible force at the bottom is a 'cavern' of water with a tunnel leading to the west. They follow it, the water tunnel turning into a rock tunnel after and for a time. Reaching a larger area, filled with stalagmites, they see collection of three triton maidens and a male triton. Adjacent to them is an old hag triton keeping a set of tops spinning, a small bowl of mercury with a cigar-sized model of the party's ship.

Three skum step into view and go hostile almost immediately, the tritons sitting back as spectators. A couple rounds later, and the skum lay dead. The tritons all use their come-hither glances into separate chambers, which doesn't take much for them to figure out that they were about to have some fun times.

Winter, however, decides to not quite partake and initially check around for treasure. He discovers a colorful collection of coral with a territorial octopus leaping out of a puddle. Fighting it causes a small god (of that coral reef, nixie stats) to leap out in anger for her pet getting harmed. After a bunch of horrible misses, he fails the charm person save and is offered some food (Fort DC 12 or paralyzed for a round, no experience to realize that it's an anemone).

A hero point or two later, and he survives the coup-de-grace attempt. He puts the god in a headlock, which convinces her to offer treasure in exchange for leaving her alone and alive. She returns with a jar holding a drop of ink left from the God of the Sea, the wall created by him slipping when he was working on the Sea Chart at the start of Ragnarock (imagine being startled and slipping with the pen).

Winter returns to begin his romp in the bed with the triton maiden, leaving him busy (the others already have their pants back on and stuff) when the hag curses as the tops fly away and clatter. The sound of rushing water and the rumble of an earthquake, which encourages the tritons to take their personal exits back to their home while the rest of the party grabs anything valuable looking in their rooms before hoofing it for the ramp that leads up to the pillar on the west side of the wall. Vesban grabs the ship model.

Because of Slater's delay in attempting to put on clothes from being interrupted, followed by a horrific failure at his Balance check (everyone else passes with flying colors) after using another player's Hero Point, I try to save him by saying he can either drop what he's holding or make a Swim check to avoid taking damage. He decides to hold onto all of his loot and make the Swim check, and fails horrifically (he's got the best bonus in the party too), and fails again after using another player's Hero Point. This deals 2d6 damage, which knocks him into staggered.

Winter's player decides that his string of failures and pity survival as a sign to just let his character die.

The rest of the party reaches the surface, part of the wall collapsed to reveal the other side. Each party member, from the pearls and art they salvaged, get 110gp each when they return home.

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Session IV
Read the Big News at the top of the first thread for the system changes for the campaign. Dawnson and Gardener are preemptively traveling together for a combination respect and mutual protection in these dangerous times. In order to write out Vesban, they apparently decided to let the plot say he succumbed to the plague plaguing the town they've returned to.

Oh, news I forgot to mention last week that I left with the closing of the session. While they were gone (just shy of a month), a disease started spreading through the town, the symptoms uncanningly like heatstroke and in some bad cases literal burning. A few had tried to leave, but they've not been heard from yet. Not wanting to get it themselves, Melisande and Hari high tail it out of the place, deciding to go to the North; as they'd have to go through an area with an active death god to the East, and something's murdering families to the South, and nothing terrible has been heard of from the North (and look, Melisande gets an awesome warhorse with barding too).

After about a day, they come upon two pairs of black robed highwaymen, wearing wide-brimmed hats, beak masks, & wielding cudgels and slings. They look roughly like this:

Crow Bandit: HP 5; AC 15 (+3 Dex, +2 Armor); Saves +1/+5/+1; Dueling Cane +3 (1d6+1/19-20), Sling +3 (1d4+1), Sneak Attack +1d6
Str 12, Dex 16, Con 8, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 10; Appraise +4, Athletics +5, Bluff +4, Sneak +7, Heal +5; Tumble +7; Weapon Finesse, Improved Feint

They demand the pair's valuables, who promptly draw their weapons, so initiative begins. After insufficient attacks except for one time when a bag of rotting mentionables was thrown at Hari, who managed to resist the disease secondary effects. While they search the area for a possible storage cache, Gardener and Dawnson run into them. There's some talking, including convincing Dawnson that Melisande and Hari were not the bandits (they did have four horses, and there were four corpses to the side of the road). Chatting ensues, and group joins together and continues North (Dawnson and Gardener don't want to go to a plague-ridden village).

While traveling, they pass by a small copse of trees ladened with hanging corpses of people showing signs of the Burning Plague. Dawnson figures it's either a lynching or a poorly done religious ward. Another twenty feet reveals a light barricade blocking the road, with eight Crow Bandits behind it, demanding a toll to pass. Not liking their continued presence, the party begins their attack. I discover that apparently not a single party member has a ranged weapon, so it takes a little bit before they can do much, which results in Hari getting knocked unconscious from feinted cudgels to the head when he gets around the barricade. Hastily, Melisande has the horse run adjacent to the barricade and makes a good enough jump check to jump off her horse and land on the other side. Combined with the Samurai's Horde Breaker feat and a reach weapon, she kills half of them. Dawnson's second grig summon manages to survive long enough to entangle runners. After breaking up the barricade, they search around and find a couple handfuls of healer's kits and healing salves as well as some coinage from prior banditry.

When they reach the hamlet (current population ~50), they find that it's currently suffering fairly heavily from Cackle Fever. They ask around about strange things during the time of the plague, finding out that a pale man with grey eyes and adventuring gear had been hanging around about a week when the first case showed up (took another month for it to become endemic). He was particularly fastidious and only really talked to one person, the main hunter for the hamlet, asking about notable places and holding a particular interest in the two ruined temples nearby. One's a former temple to the God of Life, another's an especially ruined temple to a forgotten mystery.

Wanting to help, the party rests for the night and heads out for the Life Temple, able to smell the burning herbs from a couple hundred feet away. Dawnson sends a grig out to invisibly scout out the place, finding out that it's got four crow bandits and a fifth one wearing a much more martial-focused outfit. All of their masks have been removed and are hanging near coat racks, the armored one's face is pale and grey eyed. Knowing this, the party brazenly walks up and introduces themselves to the two bandits holding general guard duty. Dawnson declares insult at seeing acolytes caring for holy ground so poorly, to which the bandits scaredly respond with stating that they'll send for the boss, who's better able to answer to complaints about proper ritual (they're trying to quickly put on their masks, looking especially worried when Gardener jokingly coughs).

While waiting for the boss to come out, Dawnson almost violently snaps with indignation at the insult of being asked to not get so close while he's potentially contaminated (by a non-priest at that), and I as a DM point out his irrationality at wanting to forgo all diplomacy and kill everyone when the bandit threatens violence in response to Dawnson's failed (and blatantly cast) charm person. By this point, the boss comes out, who's already been named as 'Vulture' by one of the bandits. Dawnson discusses with Vulture about his behavior, caring immensely as to whether proper rituals and supplications have been given to the God of Life, learning that Vulture has indeed been performing the proper rites to all of the life/health related gods (not to The God of Life, being dead and all, but this doesn't seem to upset Dawnson). As giving respect/payment to the gods is a morally neutral act without associated codes of conduct by practitioners outside of the temple (that's what a mystery is for), there is no disrespect or breaking of rules for a priest to also be a bandit leader. It's eventually fairly obvious that he's doing this because his group specifically target communities ridden with disease so as to make their job easier, performing rites to the life gods and disease gods as an extra measure of protection against disease to go along with their suits.

Obviously, a fight is decided upon in the end, and the party comes out on top. However, due to a crit and a painful smack by Vulture (level 4 warrior), Hari goes unconscious during the fight while Melisande feels on top of the world in her slaughtering glory. Their loot includes a few thousand gold, an amulet holding a piece of amber with a half sprouted seed frozen within (Magic Constitution), and a few boxes filled with herbs and other medicines ideal for treating people with specific diseases. There are extra boxes for Burning Plauge and Cackle Fever, and all of the boxes are clearly labeled. There's also a sack-cloth map of a relatively distant land, indicating how to reach a place that's labelled with the symbol of the God of Pestilence and Famine (rumours persist that his Sack of Tribulations was dropped on this world during Ragnarok).

The party distributes the medicine, paying a couple people in the hamlet to bring the Burning Plague medicine to the other town. With this, they suit up and get ready to check out the mystery temple.

[virgil]

Session V
As the party heads out for the mystery temple, it takes most of the day because the woods in this direction are heavy undergrowth at best. Towards evening, they find the temple, an aged stone structure in a crescent shape (entrance in the middle) with an asian style to it. It's got cracks, broken pillars, and holes all over to let in light readily. Dawnson asks Harvey if there's anything weird on his side, and after some snooping, Harvey notices enough to tell that there is not a single god in the area. Even the blades of grass that should have their spirits within have nobody home. While it's not uncommong for stuff over a century old to leave their 'domain' because they've become powerful enough to think about something other than their job (still in the spirit world though), the tiny stuff never 'awakens' and neither would the recent stuff that's grown over the temple. Therefore, either the place is cursed or something relatively powerful has been through the area recently.

Cautiously, they enter the temple, unsure of what god or divine aspect it's venerating. The Northern wing is lined along the walls with pipes, the vast majority of those still in place are rusted and pitted, as well as a dust-covered organ that connects to all of the pipes at the very North wall. To the South are statues, all very weathered and except for one, all showing noticeable breakage. One thing that the party notices is that all of the statues are in varying poses of crying or mourning. Scraps of writing in God's Tongue along the walls give the impression that the temple dealth w/sorrow in some fashion (crying alone...it strikes unseen...tears flow...etc)

Melisande tries playing a few notes on the pipe organ, and though sound is created, it is a broken cacophony. Some of the pipes in the back center part of the temple displace some of the stone and one of the walls with a statue attached cracks open and falls to the floor in a shatter, revealing why it was particularly unstable, the earth foundation below and behind it had parted as a fissure (the final piping was the last straw). It's a large fissure, revealing a natural tunnel below ground, but the party doesn't even think about looking down it. Harry noticed (after the wall fell) that the most intact statue wasn't in the same posture as before, having moved from kneeling to standing (face covered by its hands, as if crying). They look at it more closely, but it seems to just be normal statue, so the party suits up and starts heading into the tunnel.

But Harry notices that its hands had closed, making its blank stone eyes visible.

Dawnson's detect magic reveals nothing. Search checks don't show any features that aren't stone. Gardener's death watch ability reveals that it is alive, so the party starts speaking in all of the different languages it knows. They even left a sketch of dirt in front of it and closed their eyes so it might draw something, and it drew what looked like a rakshasa as well as a female stick figure surrounded by crossed-out stick figures. Gardener rolls a 26 on his Knowledge (planes), recalling some ancient lore he overheard from his captors...

Silent Ones: Long ago, the gods created silent warriors. At some point they killed something that they shouldn't have, and so they were cursed so that they could never move when seen, and have since been kept as prisoners by the God of Staring or even by placing at least two Silent Ones facing each other (they have darkvision, so illumination isn't too important).

Since they're not getting any real response and it hadn't attacked while they weren't looking, they go down the tunnel, noticing the same Silent One in the cavern below (managed to sneak ahead without getting noticed). By this point, they're fairly creeped out by the statue and have nicknamed it Watson.

The cavern goes deeper, with a deep red glow emanating from within. When they turn a corner, they get jumped by a spriggan wielding a gold short sword. They take it out after it does a nice chunk of damage on Harry, find out that while actually made of pyrite, it's still a magic keen short sword. It's a basic Knowledge (religion) to know that when a Jotun dies, a spriggan will rise from any blood that lands on the earth, the number of spriggans based on the power/size of the Jotun. From the babbling by the spriggan while it fought and their remembering of history, they suspect that the glow and the present spriggan is from a single drop of blood that splattered from a certain event (refer to the history section above). The sword is even likely a sliver of the original fool's gold that slew the God of Love. The spriggan didn't do anything because the cavern wasn't open until now, so it was a ghost of the Love Giant that hadn't seen anything for over a century. Oh, and Watson was discovered to be facing them in the glowing room.

Since nothing else could be found, they wondered if the blood was in the cavern because it landed and seeped from above, so they extrapolated where would've landed above and left the temple to check. It's night by this point, but both Dawnson and Gardener produce light. In the lifeless clearing where it should be, they move towards what seems a glint, only to get ambushed by five red-skinned goblins. One of them is wearing opaque goggles, a steel shield with fingers carved around the edge (as if hands were behind it and grasping it), & a mithral fan. It lands in the middle, releasing a darkness effect (I run it where it creates total darkness, but is penetrated by darkvision unless it's deeper darkness), while all of the goblins charge in and start chopping.

The only player that can see in darkness is taken down in the surprise round (dealt 10 damage to the leader goblin) by good rolls and the fact he's not fully healed from the spriggan fight. The rest of the party decides they don't stand a chance when they can't see and Dawnson's out of spells, and run like crazy into the woods.

While running, they think they hear some goblins screaming, suddenly cut short. They don't care and hide in the mystery temple, making damn sure someone stays on watch (no sign of Watson, which creeps them out). They figure that with Dawnson's spells returned and during the day, they stand a better chance in case anything's still around.

Just before they reach the clearing, they notice Watson amidst some of the plants, its mouth covered as if in horror while its eyes in a saddened feature. At the clearing itself, goblin bodies are strewn everywhere, while Harry lays asleep (he stabilized on the first round of being in the negative hit points and wasn't touched). On the lead goblin, after washing off the blood, they find out he was carrying the following gear

• Goggles: See in Darkness, Notice bonus
• Steel Shield: magic and defender quality (armor bonus 5+1/3 lvl)
• Fan: gust of wind at will, Jump bonus
• Black gold ring: darkness at will, Sneak bonus

Also on the goblin is a piece of parchment written in Demon Tongue, informing the goblin where the party will be (where they were ambushed) and to make sure that Melisande dies (doesn't care about the rest). At which point, they clean themselves up, tell Watson he's welcome to join them, and start heading back to town to go north to check on Melisande's remaining family.

[virgil]

Session VI
The party is now level 3, the stats of which will be updated at a later time.

After another day or two, the party comes upon a small silver mining village, staying the night there because the bridge was out and they didn't want to bother trying to get their horses to swim across the sizable river.

While in the tavern, they discover that Mystery is there, and offers another job to them; with the reward of decent looting rights and putting in a good word with the next merchant they'll run into. Taking the job, they're told to run into the mine before morning, because something untoward is being unleashed (a forged and forgotten relic from before Ragnarok).

So the party heads over to the mine, noticing that the monks there are doing protective wards in the name of the gnome god of the mine, not initially wanting the party to go in due to: there being a lycanthrope in them and another hero was going in to handle it by the name of Von Rhaton, but Diplomacy solves this. Once inside, a pair of thugs try to bully them out of the mine ("just run out and say horrible monsters attacked, or else Sam and I shall play the role of horrible monsters"), but are promptly taken out.

Further in, they find a wererat hybrid wearing the bloodstained cloak and other magic items of a man that Gardener saw earlier in town, the man himself dead and being munched on by said wererat. With a snarl, the wererat curses the hired help and attacks, then cut down viciously by Melisande. On the wererat, later divided amongst the party is

• cloak of resistance
• bracelets of dexterity
• ring of deflection

Even deeper into the mine are two more thugs digging out a suit of armor [Hollow Knight, Creature Collection] from the surrounding rock, but are taken out by the party before they do anything about the gradually increasing glow about it. When the glow reaches a crescendo, the armor emits a sound demanding to know to whom the party swears fealty. There's a lot of "to myself" responses, which is insufficient to the armor, and it begins to attack. It's a painful fight, but they prevail.

Examining the now non-magical armor, they find two large words in God's Tongue on the inside of the breastplate, the larger one says 'live' while the smaller one inside it says some human clan name that the party doesn't recognize. They can see the glint of more armor, so when the party returns to the surface to inform the village, they warn them against digging anywhere around the armor.

They rest for a day then leave to continue. After a week, the landscape turns into a desolate vista not unlike Nevada's salt flats (but not hot during the day). A day into their travels, during the night camp, the constellations above are wrong and glitter in a rainbow of colors. Gardener recognizes this as a sign that they are on the edge of Creation where the border with the primordial chaos leaks through, which is only further confirmed by the growth of trees in the distance (ooze flows out of the cracks into a leafless tree shape, then hardens). They're fully creeped out and do their best to avoid the trees while they continue their trek.

A day later, still in the area, they come upon a puddle of water. Having Melisande's horse kick some pepples onto it to see what happens, it explodes in pseudopods. The gray Vast proceeds to tear into the horse, nearly killing it before getting splattered itself (the acid of particular concern).

Another day passes, and they see a human hanging from his feet on a tree, who sees them and calls out. With extreme caution, they approach and release him, asking to know why he was tied up in a thin zone. He tells them that he was accused of stealing a large sum of money by his companions, he himself just being an entertainer (everyone thinks thieving Jester), and thanks them for saving him; the place has been getting to him. Some of the Vast had turned into massive flying manta rays (which the party had seen in the distance a time or two so far), and he spent some time in a traumatically dadatic conversation with a giant yellow frog man.

During their conversation, a few hours into the travel while he was under surveillance in their wagon, they notice that there's fresh mud oozing between the floorboards (as if the wagon got sank partially into mud). Worried, they stop and look under the wagon to find a mud slaad hanging on.

The conversation takes a bit with only Dawnson able to talk to it, but it consists of it looking for missing money, claiming that once it stops being missing it will then become babies. It also invites them to a racetrack that the Formless are wanting to have, he himself not being good at the whole thing, but the party declines and attempts to use Diplomacy to shoo away (they succeed).

Another day passes before they get out of the borderlands and see a normal village nearby.

[virgil]

Session VII
At the entrance, they are requested to prove that their not Formless, and so they're let inside after slightly cutting themselves to let the blood hit the ground without turning into ooze. Inside the town (~700 strong), which has got a robust militia to handle assaults from the Vast, they find some trouble buying supplies. The taxation has been outrageously high for a little while after a few nasty incidents from a band of demons who've been unusually good at infiltrating their defenses. Of course, the village is primarily trained against Formless, who are vastly (pun intended) mindless, slow-moving oozes coming from a barren wasteland.

Pulling some strings, Melisande was able to reveal that she's of relation to the Thegn of the village (3rd cousin) and thus able to earn an audience. After about an hour in the waiting room, some plain-looking adventurer woman leaves the office and the party gets to meet Thegn Pentil, a hawkish man of height, orange hair, and rumoured to have dwarf blood (similar pale skin of House Shahrizai). He explains that the demons have been taking advantage of their already focused military using a level of subterfuge wholly different/unfamiliar to that of the Formless (can't redirect men without being too weak for a Formless attack), after they showed for a time what they can do they demanded a very large sum of money for 'protection', thus explaining the outrageous taxes of late in order to afford their demands. The party offers to deal with the demons for a fraction of the demons' demands, which happens to be about 5k.

And so they head out near the time the demons would send a task force to collect their protection money. I roll some dice on the forms...

Yokai
Class of demon spawned from the ranks of the tiny gods who left their duties in the quest for power. While leaps and bounds more powerful than before, they remain the near-faceless horde for a swath of more powerful entities to command. Each Yokai shows features and traits related to their original station, so a former Scottish Terrier god (not all Terriers, but the accountant god assigned to write out the life of that Terrier) would have the ears and other minor features of a Scottish Terrier.
Medium Outsider [Demon]
HD 2 (13hp); Init +0; Senses DV 60', Notice +3; AC 16 (+5 natural, +1 Dex); Saves +4/+4/-2; BAB/Grapple +1/+5; Attack 2 Claws +5 (1d4+4); Abilities 18, 12, 12, 8, 7, 6; Feats Varies; Skills Notice +3, Stealth +6, Athletics +9
Variations by Feat Selection

• Rock Toughness, Improved Natural Armor
  Scissors Improved Natural Weapon (Claws), Combat School
  Paper Improved Grapple, Juggernaut
  Mushrooms (Large Swirling Eyes), Poison Sacs, Ability Focus (Poison)
  Crab/Lobster Juggernaut, Pincers
  Slug Carrier, Slime Trail
  Scorpion Multiattack, Sting of the Scorpion
  Dog Combat School, Expert Tactictian
  Tiger/Bobcat/Lynx Blitz, Multiattack; Animal Spirit Armor w/Armor Spikes (switch Stealth for Survival)

The party runs into a group of three about 60' away as they crest the hill, specifically a Lobster, Slug, and a Dog. I just made the monsters, so I was testing to guage their CR, and it was painfully proven that I should consider them CR 1. Whipping out Survival and reminding me of the slime trail left by the Slug Yokai, they readily head towards where they came from.

As the sun was setting, they reached a campire in a decently defended copse of trees, and attempted to sneak up to them for an ambush. However, a very poor roll resulted in them being heard by the outcamp, consisting of a Tiger, Crab, Scorprion, two Mushrooms, and a Dog. Except for a successful charge (scared the crap outta 'em with 20 damage) on Harry by the Tiger Yokai, they never got to damage anyone before getting killed. As they searched the place, they found a silently ringing gong in the tent with a fading aura of magic, which they suspect was a one-use alarm item. Thanks to the dying light of the sun and Harry's very high Notice roll, he can see what should be the main demon camp, making the one they're in likely one of their outpost camps. Since they spent a fair bit of time searching, they could also make out figures headed straight for them about halfway between the main camp and them.

Once they got close enough, the party could tell it was a pair of Rock, Paper, and Scissors Yokai. As they later learned, they were called the Twin Fists of the Yokai. Two of them were neatly handled by Gardener and Harry. Dawnson got to discover the awesome power of glitterdust by hitting four of them, who all failed, and then all provoked AoOs for trying to either leave Melisande's reach, move to get in theirs, or for being near one that got killed.

Figuring that things would only continue to be problematic, they healed up slightly (yet to use those salves) and left in search of another camp for safety. They didn't cover their tracks, so they were found several hours into the night by another attack, though fortunately Harry was on watch and heard them coming for their position. This time it was a trio of a Lynx, Tiger, and Bobcat approaching from about 75' away. When Gardener was woken up, he could tell there was a magic aura 30' above them, which made them figure it was the Oni they heard was in charge. His name was Minok, and had the physical traits of a combination black ogre and goat. The stats for the Oni were as a modified ogre mage, but carrying Endless Moonshine (see Gardener's stats).

Dawnson opened up with a glitterdust on the three Yokai, hoping he would hit Minok too since he was just told "above them), while the rest attacked and missed. Minok eventually flew over and threw a lightning bolt on the entire party (really unlucky events made them line up), for scary damage. When Harry charged and provoked an AoO after this, the greatsword critical took him to the negatives. This made the rest of the party fall back a bit and seriously consider just sprinting like crazy (including an entangle while all four were on the ground to try and slow them down), but stuck around long enough to use some Hero Points, specifically one to allow Melisande's readied action to attack as soon as Minok was visible. This was both bad and good, because while Minok became visible from attacking by charging (halberd set against charge bonus + Kiai! = ouch), Minok's own attack on her was both another critical and a sneak attack.

Both died in an instant.

Fully Updated Party

Dawnson, Level 3 Aasimar Spiritualist
HP 16; AC 15 (+2 Dex, +3 armor); Saves +3/+5/+7
Abilities Str 10, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 19, Cha 20
Feats Undecided thus far, currently left unfilled
Skills Notice +8, Gather Info +11, Concentration +8, Diplomacy +11 (+13 w/gods), Knowledge (religion) +6, Speak Language (Speech, God Tongue)
Equipment Bone Armor, Fan of the South Winds (magic Jump, gust of wind at will)
Spirit Guide Ogre reskinned to be a 9' tall humanoid rabbit named Harvey

Gardener, Level 3 Feytouched Soulborn
HP 23; AC 19 (+4 Dex, +3 shield, +3 armor); Saves +10/+10/+8
Abilities Str 18, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 20
Special Abilities Feytouched - Death Watch 1/day; Soulmelds - Awesome Turquoise Braids (Str, Displacement), Expansive Ultramarine Wings (Dex, Bolt of Agony), Depressing Black Gloves (SR, Counterspelling), Horrendous Sky Armor (Knowledge Religion, Wall-walking)
Feats Mage Slayer, Horde Breaker
Skills Knowledge (religion, planes) +7, Intimidate +11, Notice +6, Search +7
Equipment Studded Leather Armor, Black Dragonscale Shield, Goggles of the Night (Notice, See in Darkness), Magic Braclet of Dexterity, Endless Moonshine (Increases Constitution, sustenance for one person each day in the form of whiskey)

Harry, Level 3 Tiefling Fighter
HP 31; AC 24 (+2 Dex, +6 armor, +3 shield, +2 dodge, +1 deflection); Saves +7/+6/+6
Abilities Str 18, Dex 15, Con 17, Int 18, Wis 15, Cha 8
Feats Danger Sense, Expert Tactictian, Elusive Target
Skills Athletics +10, Notice +8, Stealth +8, Tumble +10, Survival +8, Escape Artist +8, Knowledge (local, dungeoneering) +10, Balance +10, Bluff +5
Equipment Studded Leather, Black Gold Ring (Sneak, darkness at will), Resolute Shield (Magic Steel Shield, Defender Quality), Cloak of Resistance, Ring of Deflection, Amber Amulet of Constitution, Keen Pyrite Short Sword

[CatharzGodfoot]

Sounds like a lot of fun. Combats do run quick and deadly in the Tomes.

However, I'm not sure how you can have two characters simultaneously annihilate each other in D&D: AoOs are made before whatever triggers them, so if the ogre was dead after Melisande's AoO, it wouldn't have been able to complete its attack on her.

That said, "karmic strikes" are awesome.

[virgil]

It wasn't an AoO, it was a readied action. While the attack's made before the trigger, that property wouldn't apply here technically. Minok wouldn't be visible until the attack's already made, preventing the readied action from going off at all because Melisande's dead from damage. Hence why a Hero Point is used, since it worked with the situation and it created an awesome 'karmic strike'.

If there's a mistake on the rules here, feel free to correct me like I would ask anyone to mention concerns about the game (including the players that read this thread); since I really want to improve my DMing and getting feedback from the party is hard.

PS: Sheesh, judging by the thread views, how many read my notes?

[JonSetanta]

I read it. It's interesting.

[Midnight_v]

Figured I'd read it once it was all posted. Didn't know you'd need encouragment.
Ooh-baby your letters dey soooo BIG!

Interesting stuff, it is, though.

[virgil]

Oh, it's not a request for encouragement, but a statement of minor surprise at the number of people that seemingly read my log.

Session VIII
We had a short session today, due to a late lunch and the level-up bringing things to a screeching halt (one player delayed things to try and make the WoW fishing competition didn't help matters).

They arose with successful Heal checks all around, followed by Dawnson unloading all of his first level spells in order to get the Gardener and Harry restored to full health. Because it was a day's travel, they decided to clear out the demon camp before going back, with a grig sent in to scout while they waited some distance away. The grig returned with news about two score yokai and some really shiny stuff in the back. So the two walk up, holding the oni's head in hand, and scare off the two yokai (Vertigo) through brute intimidation while also opening the 10' wooden door Magneto-style thanks to Dawnson's warp wood. The following entangle kept four from ever doing anything, as well as the grig's fiddle in the background, so the remaining dozen couldn't even run, but they got enough time spent to hurt Gardener and Harry decently (Gardener was actually knocked out for a chunk).

Thinks got easier when suddenly a Book Yokai exploded in fire by an incoming fire mage, the new character; a female cousin (first cousin to Pentil) of Melisande, who was coming down to the area to both help family (she'd been noticing her family had been dropping) and see if the demon problem could be handled personally. Once all of the yokai had been killed, they discuss the circumstances and the regret of the death of Melisande, agreeing to give her a proper burial at the town when they returned (along with the family ranseur). They check in the back, with a cave, and find a pair of boars fenced in near a good sized construct. It was a clockwork-style gate constructed of copper, silver, and gold (from all of the coins collected) that also radiated faint magic. After some Knowledge (planes) is rolled, they figure out that it's formian technology and decide to collapse the tunnel around it; as they don't know if it opens to a hostile hive or not, especially when they're so close to an area with a Vast presence.

In one of the buildings, they find a crate made of stone and inscribed with something in Jotun Tongue, inside are two bottles of wine. None read Jotun Tongue, so Imriel takes a sip, getting an awesome feeling not unlike a senzu bean for a solid minute. They spend the day working on that, release the boars, and head home. They are rewarded ~1k in gold each from the taxes, rest for about a week, and meet an incoming merchant with a magical scarf of disguise they purchased. According to the merchant, the wine they found is from a dwarven settlement a few days east, known for their druidic practices and an actual branch from the World Tree broaching through. Essentially the two bottles are of wine made of goodberries, each holding fifty sips, a single sip granting the benefit of lesser vigor (as Imriel stated, "the good shit").

Everyone reaches level 4.

Fully Updated Party

Dawnson, Level 4 Aasimar Spiritualist
HP 23; AC 15 (+2 Dex, +3 armor); Saves +3/+6/+9
Abilities Str 10, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 20, Cha 22
Feats Undecided thus far, currently left unfilled
Skills Notice +10, Gather Info +13, Concentration +9, Diplomacy +13 (+15 w/gods), Knowledge (religion) +7, Speak Language (Speech, God Tongue)
Equipment Bone Armor, Magic Charisma Amulet
Spirit Guide Owlbear reskinned to be a 9' tall humanoid rabbit named Harvey

Gardener, Level 4 Feytouched Soulborn
HP 32; AC 20 (+4 Dex, +3 shield, +3 armor); Saves +13/+11/+10
Abilities Str 18, Dex 19, Con 16, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 23
Special Abilities Feytouched - Death Watch 1/day; Soulmelds - Awesome Turquoise Braids (Str, Displacement), Expansive Ultramarine Wings (Knowledge Planes, Animal Summoning), Depressing Black Gloves (SR, Counterspelling), Horrendous Sky Armor (Knowledge Religion, Wall-walking), Monstrous Steel Boots (Cha, Counterspelling)
Feats Mage Slayer, Horde Breaker
Skills Knowledge (religion, planes) +8, Intimidate +13, Notice +8, Search +8
Equipment Studded Leather Armor, Black Dragonscale Shield, Goggles of the Night (Notice, See in Darkness), Magic Braclet of Dexterity, Endless Moonshine (Increases Constitution, sustenance for one person each day in the form of whiskey)

Harry, Level 4 Tiefling Fighter
HP 41; AC 26 (+2 Dex, +7 armor, +4 shield, +2 dodge, +1 deflection); Saves +10/+8/+8
Abilities Str 19, Dex 15, Con 18, Int 18, Wis 15, Cha 8
Feats Danger Sense, Expert Tactictian, Elusive Target, Xxx
Skills Athletics +11, Notice +9, Stealth +6, Tumble +11, Survival +9, Escape Artist +9, Knowledge (local, dungeoneering) +11, Balance +11, Bluff +6
Equipment Studded Leather, Resolute Shield (Magic Steel Shield, Defender Quality), Cloak of Resistance, Ring of Deflection, Amber Amulet of Constitution, Keen Pyrite Short Sword

Imriel Shahrizai, Human Fire Mage 4Cousin and therefore part of the noble house (only the core was slaughtered) that Melisande was a part of.
HP 31; AC 20 (+3 Dex, +7 armor); Saves +4/+4/+4
Abilities Str 10, Dex 17, Con 16, Int 15, Wis 13, Cha 21
Feats Sniper, Point Blank Shot, Combat Casting (Tome)
Skills Athletics +5 (+9 Jump), Bluff +7, Concentration +13, Diplomacy +17, Disguise +9, Escape Artist +7, Ride +5, Sense Motive +6, Stealth +12
Equipment Magic Magic Clothes, Black Gold Ring (Sneak, darkness at will), Scarf of Disguise (disguise self, magic Charisma), Fan of the South Winds (magic Jump, gust of wind at will)

EDIT: I completely forgot to mention this. When the party returned, Thegn Pentil was quite surprised to see them, because he had recently received a written message from Minok stating his displeasure at the assault sent against a vassal of Seibel the Rakshasa. Seibel happens to be the name written in demon tongue from the original message given to the goblin stating that it must slay Melisande, and coupled with the earlier message given by Mystery that Melisande's family was slain by a rakshasa, gives a pretty clear understanding that a rakshasa wants the line killed.

[virgil]

Session IX
Mediocre session, at best. I mostly had it focused on Dawnson whose player wasn't in a terribly interested mood for the game (rough work week), and I made some assumptions.

While traveling the road, they come upon a wandering traveler asking for some food due to a lack of money and it being some time before getting to town again. Dawnson notes that he's registering as fey after handing him some money, but says nothing of it as he walks away. Once they're a little apart, some grass drakes (dragon-flavour leopards) leap out of nearby shrubbery and nip at Harry, who kills them all (one's on fire, another's pricked by Gardener, and Dawnson casts a CLW) just as the traveler comes speeding up (200' sprint) with the intended look to help. He's surprised to see them so readily take out the drakes, and asks if they want any help with any other dangers that might come up. The party declines, but asks what's up ahead. Understanding them to be adventuring types, he tells them there's likely some particularly dangerous and angry boars farther up the road, and the two-story house with the white fence and surrounded trees is to not be entered (nothing but a deathtrap).

The party thanks him and continue, and come upon some nearly raging boars digging into animal corpses they slaughtered, with pink ribbons around their quills and needles sticking out of their posteriors. Seeing the players sends them into bloodcurdling fury, and so the battle begins, surprising the party with their inability to just plain die. Two of the boars burned for the entire fight (mistook the Reflex save each round as requiring an action), while Harry and Gardener focused on the non-burning one. Dawnson doesn't see where he'd be of much use, so just uses one entangle and moves in with a couple CLW casts when Harry and Gardener are knocked unconscious; he does however tell Harvey to ask the gods that are watching and cheering (from the Ethereal) what the scoop is.

After slaying the boars, Harvey comes back with jam-smeared bread and info that apparently the gods had snuck up on the boars and pissed them off, crossing back to watch safely and place bets on what they could kill (Harvey bet in favor of Harry, which earned him delicious toast). Dawnson tells Harvey to go tell them to stop doing that, who gladly 'persuades' them (being CR 1 and all), but gets threatened that they'll piss off the boss and they'll sic the Road God on the party. With a little extra persuasion, they find out that the boss is a bigger god, the God of Alcoholic Brotherhoods.

They get ready to head up the path to enter the building that the traveler warned them about, when Harvey and Dawnson notice a human-esque white bearded god with a jeweled spear being poked and prodded by the tiny gods to smite them. As Harvey grins and walks towards to him to talk, Road gets a scared look and shifts to the Material to give an awkward ultimatum to the party; mentioning that "some gold or something" in sacrifices should appease the God of Alcoholic Brotherhoods.

He reveals himself to be the earlier traveler when he notices them heading towards the building and chastises them for doing so. Reluctantly, he tells them the edifice is a single Vast that apparently *really* liked the house it ate so it just took its form and eats whatever enters. He originally abstained telling them this because they came from the direction of a town known for people who, in his mind, do nothing but kill Vast all day; and figured that would only encourage the party to enter it and get slaughtered. However, the party doesn't work that way, so they actually will avoid it knowing that it's a massive Vast. Road had put up signs, but the other gods kept defacing (and would bully him if he tried to fight back).

They enter the Primal Aroboretum, the dwarf settlement, with great rice terraces and a nearly 30' tall dwarf statue (in a reverent, crossed arms posture) adjacent to the central mountain hall. All of the dwarfs look to be very close in age and could pass off as siblings. In fact, it's revealed the settlement was a children's (none older than 25) refuge during Ragnarok, and all of the dwarves are siblings.

There's an initial scuffle when Imriel tries to set fire to the statue, as it turns out it's the petrified corpse of their Uncle Harold. There's also a requisite day of prayer to the gods in order to conduct business, encouraged by said gods, who are revealed to be bullies of the dwarves who have little ability to fight back. They're sufficiently cowed that they won't even stand by the party if they try to defy the gods unless they prove themselves to be tough enough heroes.

It's with this that the party is told of a ram that fed off the goodberry bushes in their settlement before they too refuge, and retains its great vibrancy and life to this day. Getting to it would require a trek up a mountain to the neighboring peak, which the party suits themselves up for, while Imriel enlists one of the mountain climbing dwarves to do all the heavy climbing so as to set up spikes with knotted rope for her to climb at better spots (27+ diplomacy does this).

A day or two later, they reach the top, and Imriel attempts to attract it with offers of food (Handle Animal, minimally trained), as taming it would be even more proof of their awesome than slaying. Insufficient checks are made, which pisses it off (I assumed DC 15+HD, though it should probably be higher) and nearly KOs Imriel with a charge (Creature Collection: Amalthean Ram), which gives Dawnson cause to cast healing magic while everyone else tries to take it down.

They take it down, both in combat and bodily down the mountain to show off to the people of Primal Arboretum, who will now stand in defiance to the bullying gods with the party. Combined with a arming up and 37 Diplomacy by Imriel (I couldn't say no to using the skill), gives the God of Alcoholic Brotherhoods a sufficient reaming to guilt it into being nice to the community.

As a reward, the dwarves skin the hide of the great ram and provide a pair of family heirlooms.

• Helmet of Animal Friendship (and Charisma)
• 2 Necklaces of Resistance

The party is now level 5.

Fully Updated Party

Dawnson, Level 5 Aasimar Spiritualist
HP 29; AC 15 (+2 Dex, +3 armor); Saves +5/+8/+11
Abilities Str 10, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 20, Cha 22
Feats Undecided thus far, currently left unfilled
Skills Notice +11, Gather Info +14, Concentration +10, Diplomacy +14 (+16 w/gods), Knowledge (religion) +8, Speak Language (Speech, God Tongue)
Equipment Bone Armor, Ram's Helm (charm animal at will, Magic Charisma), Necklace of Resistance
Spirit Guide Troll reskinned to be a 9' tall humanoid rabbit named Harvey

Gardener, Level 5 Feytouched Soulborn
HP 39; AC 28 (+4 Dex, +3 shield, +9 armor, +2 deflection); Saves +13/+11/+10 (+3 Ref vs Su)
Abilities Str 18, Dex 19, Con 16, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 23
Special Abilities Feytouched - Death Watch 1/day; Soulmelds - Awesome Turquoise Braids (Str, Displacement), Expansive Ultramarine Wings (Knowledge Planes, Animal Summoning), Depressing Black Gloves (SR, Counterspelling), Horrendous Sky Armor (Knowledge Religion, Wall-walking), Monstrous Steel Boots (Intimidate, Flight), Depressive Electric Horns (Deflection, Armor)
Feats Mage Slayer, Horde Breaker
Skills Knowledge (religion, planes) +9, Intimidate +14, Notice +9, Search +9
Equipment Black Dragonscale Shield, Goggles of the Night (Notice, See in Darkness), Magic Braclet of Dexterity, Endless Moonshine (Increases Constitution, sustenance for one person each day in the form of whiskey)

Harry, Level 5 Tiefling Fighter
HP 43+; AC 27 (+2 Dex, +7 armor, +4 shield, +2 dodge, +2 deflection); Saves +10/+8/+8
Abilities Str 19, Dex 15, Con 18, Int 18, Wis 15, Cha 8
Feats Danger Sense, Expert Tactictian, Elusive Target, Combat School
Skills Athletics +12, Notice +10, Stealth +7, Tumble +12, Survival +10, Escape Artist +10, Knowledge (local, dungeoneering) +12, Balance +12, Bluff +7
Equipment Studded Leather, Resolute Shield (Magic Steel Shield, Defender Quality), Cloak of Resistance, Ring of Deflection, Amber Amulet of Constitution, Keen Pyrite Short Sword

Imriel Shahrizai, Human Fire Mage 5Cousin and therefore part of the noble house (only the core was slaughtered) that Melisande was a part of.
HP 37; AC 22 (+3 Dex, +7 armor, +2 deflect); Saves +9/+9/+7
Abilities Str 10, Dex 17, Con 16, Int 15, Wis 13, Cha 21
Feats Sniper, Point Blank Shot, Combat Casting (Tome)
Skills Athletics +1 (+6 Jump), Bluff +14, Concentration +14, Diplomacy +18, Disguise +16 (+26 scarf), Escape Artist +5, Handle Animal +8, Ride +5, Stealth +16, Sense Motive +6, Spellcraft +6
Equipment Magic Magic Clothes, Black Gold Ring (Sneak, darkness at will), Scarf of Disguise (disguise self, magic Charisma), Fan of the South Winds (magic Jump, gust of wind at will), Necklace of Resistance

[virgil]

Session X
There were delays from the holidays, then I had a kidney stone, then two of my players had to stay home due to disease. After all this, we finally got back together and ran the usual game last Saturday. Things are still a big sluggish due to a lack of specific goals, and it's hard for me to plan too far ahead because I can't really predict what they'll care about.

Speaking with the village, they discover that there was a locked door to a subterranean passage that the natives hadn't opened due to concerns of what it might be containing. The party was intrigued by what could lay in store, so they convinced them to remove the primary locks so they could investigate. They reach a depth of about a quarter-mile before entering a vast cavern that holds an abandoned city. There's also a small altar room to the side of the hallway they came in through, inside the room were two altars of the sun and a crescent moon (and a hidden one of a new moon) with the words of Truth over the sun, Falsehood over the crescent moon, and Silence over the new moon. There were also broken shards of class littered about, and after they fought off half a dozen darkmantles, they searched around and found little of worth.

One ever-present constant for Dawnson in this is that he sees humans in masquerade masks and outdated clothing carousing drunkenly through the streets, but on the Astral side.

Near the ledge/hall they came in on, they move to investigate one building, discovering that it's recently occupied (within the week) with half-finished weapons and armor repair kits, and has a makeshift animal pen. In another building, they find a badger-like humanoid chewing down on food with a sickle on the table, he's cautious, stating that he wasn't expecting to ever see regular humans. The creature speaks of two tribes that live and fight for territory in the city, especially for the secrets of the original inhabitants who are rumoured to have survived Ragnarok without trouble. One tribe is that of badger-people (hobgoblin stats), and another is that of the Selenians. He knows that the Selenians have access to a magically sealed door, but they haven't been able to figure out the password, which the badger-people know of, and this one tells the party right after discovering that they came from the surface and the locked door at the end of the hallway is actually open (leaves shortly to go that way). There's also a large waterfall that supplies water to the entire city, but it's inhabited by wights (nicknamed the Forgotten) and neither tribe messes with them.

After fighting off a randomly wandering Phantom Fungus, the party then heads toward the district with the Selenians, who are currently in crescent mode. Conversation is a bit awkward due to the enforced lying, until they pull up their hoods and speak in Demon Tongue (Imriel and Dawnson both understand) once they trust the party enough. They're intrigued by the password the party admits to knowing, but demand that they have first dibs on the treasure revealed by the door as payment for opening the door (party agrees). At the door, they're ambushed by half a dozen wights, killing one of the five Selenians that joined the party. Upon opening the door, it's revealed a rather large mirror that reflects more than just the empty city and the party, but actually reflects the Astral-side party (proof that Dawnson isn't crazy ). The head Selenian touches the mirror without a visible change, but quickly realizes that he switched places with his reflection and is on the Astral with the rest of the party (fireworks periodically going off). The holographic reflection disappears once the 'real' one moves out of sight of the mirror, and doesn't reappear when the reflection returns to view. The Selenian notices something above the door on his side and gets its attention, which reveals itself as what seems to be a gargoyle with a doorknob for a nose, who angrily demands if they brought a Silent One to the city (from this they infer that they're speaking to the Demon of Doors); learning that there is one, it begins attempting to close the door on its side of the mirror.

As an aside, I've been bringing up the existence of lenses in various places throughout the city during the session, and from what the party guesses, it's a primitive form of fiberoptics where all lenses lead to the mirror door.

Unsure of what to do next, they ask if the mongrels have any secrets of their own, to which the Selenians mention the Chamber of Reflected Sound. And so, the party goes forth into the next session!

[virgil]

Session XI
We actually had a game last week, I just kept forgetting to transcribe the events. It was shortened because things got distracted after a bit too much drinking for some and kidney stones for others. This actual week's cancelled because of the weather keeping two of my players home.

About 10 minutes is spent dealing with a handful of phantom fungi in the road that attempt to meander at the party, and the group of dire badgers are handled when the alpha male is cowed with the helm of animal friendship. This impressed the mongrel tribe at the open area, in which Dawnson busts out a 31+ Diplomacy (as good as Imriel at this junk) to convince them to let them into the Chambers of Echo, a dangerous set of caverns that drive men mad (they kept that secret from the Selenians).

About an hour of exploring the labyrinthine cavern tunnels, they continually hearing whispers of prior conversations in each of the character's lives, any that they don't remember having happened consisting of 'revelations of treachery' within the group and plans for murder. Gardener is the most affected, suffering two Wisdom damage in the end from such whispers.

They're ambushed by a pair of howlers and doppelgangers pretending to be Harry who had been trailing them for a little while; they each have a level in sorcerer and have cast magic aura to make their auras identical, and one uses mirror image. One even cries out that he's been switched, and the group knows of baleful transposition. When the real Harry uses Whirlwind Attack, I have one of them pretend to use it with an opposed Bluff check, giving the impression that he just missed everyone (which actually makes that one more believable as the real one to the rest). Damage is done all around, but not enough for a couple sips of goodberry wine can't cure.

They start finding crude pictograms of varying points in the past with the party, and a handful of scenes they don't recognize; such as all four of them atop the setting's Mount Olympus Ersatz with crowns on their heads, or a tiger-headed army standing over their corpses. At one point, there's a to-scale pictogram of Gardener in an hourglass with one of the senior wizards standing next to it, which begins to glow and the actual wizard appears.

It's a tough fight, as I'm using a reskinned illithid (tentacles changed to heart pulling Emperor lightning) on the party who got the drop and everyone but Imriel failed their Will save; however, she ends up taking too long to grapple that he just starts to ignore her in favor of charming Harry and attempting to hurry up and get Gardener. He's eventually killed, barely, by a flying fire kick to the nuts from Imriel (which is her one supernatural ability, as the SR did terrible things).

From the notes on his body, the arcanist seemed to be going into regular torpor, awaiting for the moment that Gardener approached a picture of the wizard so he could teleport directly to him. There was even a scroll on his person listing known places of importance along with directions to return to the Hourglass of Death. They also find other things, which will be described next time....

Total Loot:

• Ring of Resistance
• Soul-gem Amulet of Constitution
• Amulet of Mirror Image and Dexterity
• Magic Sword of the Chameleon (swift action shift into any nonmagical melee weapon wieldable by the bearer)